Will of the Force 1: A Trip Gone Wrong
by AcesAndSpades080
Summary: When Owen and Beru Lars took their young nephew to Mos Espa things go terribly wrong and Luke ends up in the mercy of the empire. Will Obi Wan get to him in time? Or will Luke's father come to claim him first?
1. A trip to Mos Espa

Six year old Luke Skywalker hopped out of his uncle's Skyhopper and looked around the streets of Mos Espa. Stormtroopers patrolled the streets asking randomly selected citizens for their papers. Luke looked to his Aunt and Uncle and grinned. He had been asking them to visit the old Pod Racing arena since he first saw an old holo of them on his favorite holoprogram, "Space Racers." Beru saw no harm in taking the boy to see track, it was the only significant piece of history on all of Tatooine. Owen had been strongly against it at first, Mos Espa was a day's journey from Anchor Head and was filled with imperials. He was trying to keep Luke safe from the empire, not lead him into it.

"Look, Uncle Owen, a real Stormtrooper!" Luke said pointing to said Stormtrooper.

The Stormtrooper walked over and looked at the little boy. Most people on Tatooine feared or outright hated them but not this child. The little boy looked up at him with awe.

"What's your name, youngling?" the Stormtrooper asked.

"I'm Luke. Is it true that you're all clones? Uncle Owen said that you're all clones once," Luke said.

"Luke!" Uncle Owen yelled. It's true he had once mentioned that in the old Republic they were all clones and it wouldn't surprise him if they still were but he never expected his nephew to say something like that to an actual Stormtrooper.

The Stormtrooper looked down at the young boy and smiled. "Before you were born the old republic used clones to fight their battles but now only very brave and loyal citizens can sign up to help defend our empire from the rebels. Maybe one day you can sign up to become one too."

Luke looked at the Stormtrooper thoughtfully, "No thank you mister, I wanna be a pilot and see everything!"

"Well, we could always use more pilots too," the Stormtrooper said. Then he looked up at Owen and Beru, "I'm going to need to see your papers if you're planning on going into the old Pod Racing arena, just basic protocol."

"Of course," Beru said as she began to dig through her bag.

Owen swore in huttenese as he dug through his pocket to find his papers. He was starting remember why he didn't want to come in the first place. They found their papers and handed them to the trooper. He looked at the names and noticed the difference.

"Owen and Beru Lars and Luke… Skywalker? I need to know why the difference in names just to make sure he wasn't kidnapped and report this to my higher-ups. I'm sure it's nothing of the sort but it still needs to be put in my report," the Stormtrooper said.

Owen was fuming and if not for Beru speaking up he would have screamed at the trooper. "We are his aunt and uncle on his mother's side. She died giving birth to him off planet and he was sent to live with us after."

"What of the boy's father?" The trooper asked writing down notes on a datapad.

"Dead as well, he died before Luke was even born. A speeder accident," Beru stated.

"And just one more question, his papers don't have the names of his biological parents written on it, just yours. What were their names?" The Stormtrooper asked.

"Excuse me?" Beru said.

"What were the names of his parents," The Stormtrooper asked again.

"They're dead, what does it matter? Let the boy go inside the arena, we clearly haven't kidnapped him. We're the guardians listed on his papers for kriffs sake! Just let us through," Owen yelled. He had finally lost the last bit of his temper.

The Stormtrooper took out his gun, "Sir you need to calm down or I will shoot. Don't make me do it in front of the boy."

Luke looked up to his uncle with big, pleading eyes. Beru held Luke close to her. Just as he was about to scream at the trooper again a blue Toydarian flew into view.

"Lars, is eh that you?" He asked.

"Sir, please step away from this family. We are in the middle of an arrest."

"For-a what eh? These eh are gooda people. Why woulda they be in any trouble eh?" The Tordarian asked.

"For failing to comply with the empire," The Stormtrooper stated, "They refuse to give the names of the boy's parents."

"The boy eh? The boy's parents eh were Beru's sister, no? She's was called Shmi. The father was that no good smugglereh, Grotto," the Toydarian said, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"Is this information correct, Mr. Lars?" The Stormtrooper asked.

Owen looked over to the Todarian and suddenly recognized him. "Yes sir it is. Their deaths are still a sore spot for us, I'm sorry for how I reacted," he said, swallowing his pride.

"Very well, now Luke, is your birthday really only two days after Empire day?" The Stormtrooper asked.

"Y-yes, sir," Luke piped up from next to Beru.

"Very good, happy birthday then kid, I hope you never get into this kind of trouble again, I don't want to see you end up in a cell, okay?"

"Yes, sir," Luke said with a bit more confidence this time.

The Trooper walked away from the family and continued to patrol the area. Owen looked to the Toydarian who had helped save Luke's life.

"Why did you do that, Watto? What do you have to gain?" Owen asked.

"Come into my store, eh? We can discuss how you caneh repay me in there," Watto said.

The family explained to Luke that it would be a bit longer until they could go see the pod racing track. Luke just agreed still shaken with the events that just happened. They entered a little junkshop with droid parts and ship pieces scattered everywhere. There was a desk covered in oil and grease. Papers were pouring off of it.

"You're a moister farmer likeh your father. Giveh me twoeh gallons of your water a montheh and we'lleh be even," Watto said.

"That's all, just two gallons a month? No slavery, no giant debt to you, just two gallons of water a month," Owen said.

"Calleh it me repaying a debt. Ieh heard the trooper calleh that boy a Skyehwalker. Hiseh father was a goodeh slave toeh me. Heeh even lookseh like Ani," Watto said looking at the boy.

"Thank you, Watto, this means the world to us," Beru said.

"Eh, I musteh be getting softeh in my oldeh age," Watto said.

The family left the junkshop and entered the streets of Mos Espa. As they disappeared into the crowd Watto took out his comm. He placed in a frequency he knew all too well. As he waited he looked over to the pieces of a broken podracer in the corner of his shop. Ani's podracer. Ani, the slave who somehow won his freedom.

"Hello, this is the imperial line for any information involving sightings of missing persons, wanted criminals, illegal activity, slavery, and Jedi. How may I be of service today?" The automated message said.

"Puteh me on witheh a real person,"Watto said.

"Hello?" a bored voice said on the other line.

"Yeseh, I'd likeh to collect a bounty."

The voice snorted, "Yeah, on who?"

"Skyehwalker."


	2. Captured!

Hi everyone, sorry for no author's note last time, I just figured this whole thing out. Anyway I hope you all enjoy this second chapter, sorry it came out a bit slow but I'm about half into the third already of that helps you. So yep, enjoy!

Oh and I don't own Star Wars or anything like that, totally not George Lucas in disguise.

* * *

Luke looked around the arena with big eyes. Never in his life had he seen so many people gathered in one place. Many of the tourists took out holorecorders and snapped picture or took videos of the old monument to speed and human engineering. Tatooine didn't have much but just seeing how much this meant to so many people in the galaxy made Luke proud to be from the twin sun planet for once in his life.

His aunt and uncle lead him towards a tour group about to explain the history of podracing. Almost every pod racer was an alien species of some sort. It only made sense that there had been such a huge following of the sport on a planet such as Tatooine since most of its citizens were some sort of alien. The aliens that participated in the sport had to be small enough to fit into the cockpit and have excellent reflexes which is why not many humans could do it. Adult humans were too big to even fit into the cockpit of a racer let alone pilot it. Humans also did not possess the adequate amount of reflexes needed in order to avoid any obstacle in their way. For the most part those obstacles were the other racers crashing into them or attacking with their podracers.

Luke was having the time of his life hearing about all of the incredible races that happened on his home planet. He had almost wondered away from the group three times while staring at the bleachers surrounding him. Uncle Owen had to get the boy's attention so he wouldn't be left behind. It was the fourth time Luke almost wondered off when Stormtroopers surrounded the group. One of the troopers grabbed Aunt Beru while another handcuffed Uncle Owen.

"What's all this about!" Uncle Owen screamed. "Let my wife go!"

The trooper pushed Owen onto the ground harshly. He grabbed Owen by the front of the shirt and pulled him back up. Placing a blaster to the man's temple the Stormtrooper ordered him to be still and silent.

The Stormtrooper sighed, his day was supposed to be easy. Nothing ever happened on Tatooine, at least nothing that required the Empire to intervene right away. The Stormtroopers on Tatooine, for the most part, were not exactly the most motivated. Most spent as much time as possible hiding in their base away from the twin suns. He hadn't expected much from today either until the call from a local blathering on about a Jedi came in. Of course they didn't believe him at first, of all the places in the galaxy a Jedi would never choose to live on Tatooine. The longer the Toydarian spoke the less the troopers believed him. Until, that is, he mentioned the name of the Jedi. Skywalker. Many of them remembered him as the Hero with no Fear. They all knew him to be dead but the emperor mandated that anything having to do with a Jedi be investigated thoroughly, specifically any with ties to Anakin Skywalker or Obi Wan Kenobi. So here they were, arresting some poor kid and his family just for having the same last name as a famous Jedi.

Luke was terrified. His aunt and uncle were being arrested, Stormtroopers were ushering him towards the exit with them. He had no idea where they were going or if he was even going to be able to stay with his family. He walked in between two of the Stormtroopers, his hands cuffed behind his back. They looked down at him occasionally to make sure he was keeping up his pace with them. As they walked Luke listened in on their conversation.

"Do you think we'll have to contact Lord Vader about this?" one asked.

"I doubt it, it's probably nothing. I mean just look at these people, they're nothing but some moisture farmers from the sticks. There's no way they know anything about Jedi," the other responded.

"What's a Jedi?" Luke asked his captors.

"What's a Jedi? Kid how do you not know what a Jedi is? They're only the most incredible warriors ever!" The first trooper said.

"Watch your tongue, that's traitor talk," the second trooper snapped.

"I mean, they were. Before they turned on the empire that is. I heard one of the masters tried to kill the emperor," the first trooper corrected.

"But if they were so powerful how could someone kill them all?" Luke asked.

"We did," the first guard replied. "Us and Lord Vader."

"You see, kid, KD-030 was a clone trooper. They were all grown in some lab to be the perfect soldier," the second guard explained.

"Oh," was all Luke said in response.

The troopers marched the family into a small base. It was a common enough sight on Tatooine, and old shop converted into a base for the empire. The roof was starting to rip off from the building, wires hung down from an outdated communications satellite. The door the family and troopers entered was rusting and made a loud creeeekkk as it slid open.

Luke looked around the base. They entered a sort of office with three doors inside. One of the doors was opened and revealed a few Stormtroopers sitting and chatting about current events. A recruitment poster with a man covered in black armor commanding a legion of troopers. Their captors separated Owen from Beru and Luke and dragged him to a door containing the interrogation room. Luke and Beru were taken to a holding unit and were placed into separate cells. KD-030 threw Luke into his cell.

"Luke! Luke are you okay?" Aunt Beru cried after hearing her nephew hit the floor.

"I'm okay," Luke groaned.

"No talking to each other," KD-030 said. He turned to the other trooper. "MH-117 I need you to watch over them while I go help interrogate the husband. Try not to mess this up."

"I've got this. It's not like I haven't played babysitter before. It's all I get to do in this Sith forsaken place," MH-117 mumbled. KD-030 shook his head and walked out the door.

"How long are we going to be in here for?" Luke asked.

"Just until we get everything straightened out, kid. It shouldn't take too long some wack job just called us and claimed you guys were hiding a Jedi. It should be over in an hour and you guys can go back to sightseeing or whatever you're here for," MH-117 explained.

"Will Uncle Owen be okay? You guys were being really mean to him on the way here," Luke asked.

"He'll be fine, kid."

Several minutes passed before Owen was dropped off into one of the cells. He had been beaten. His left eye was swollen shut, parts of his shirt were torn off, underneath the tears were burn marks and slashes. His bottom lip was swollen and turning purple. He slouched onto the floor mumbling curses Luke had never heard of before he passed out. Beru let out a shriek as troopers tore her away from the scene. She reached out a hand to Owen as tears fell from her eyes.

"You said he'd be okay!" Luke screamed at MH-117.

"He was probably being difficult, kid. I don't know what to tell you," MH-117 said leaning back in his chair. He was really getting tired of watching this kid and his family.

"My name's not kid," Luke protested.

MH-117 raised an eyebrow and smirked. "What was that, kid?" he taunted.

"I said my name's not kid. It's Luke, Luke Skywalker."

"Sky-skywalker? Like that general from the Clone Wars?" MH-117 whispered to himself.

Before Luke could reply the trooper was out the door to let the others know about his find. They really had found a Jedi. The crazy Toydarian wasn't just making things up. There really was a Jedi hiding on Tatooine. But he still looked young, he was probably just one of those Padawans he had heard about growing up. MH-117 burst into the interrogation room to find Beru crying and KD-030 leaning against his desk waiting for her to calm down.

"MH-117, I told you to watch the prisoners," KD-030 said in annoyance.

"Yes, sir, but there's been a situation." At that Beru stopped sobbing and looked up with tear filled eyes. KD-030 stood up straight and looked MH-117straight into his mask.

"What kind of situation," he said through closed teeth.

"The boy. I believe him to be a Jedi, sir." MH-117 said calmly.

"That boy is no Jedi. Jedi have lightsabers, they have robes. If he were a Jedi he would have escaped by now and from the lack of commotion I'd say he's still lost and scared in his little cell," KD-030 said.

"Yes, sir. But the boy's name is Skywalker…sir."

KD-030 pinched the bridge of his nose. "Jedi don't have children. General Skywalker was very keen to sticking to that code just as all Jedi are. That boy's father was not General Skywalker and he is not in any way a Jedi," he scolded.

"Yes, sir. But are you sure? Skywalker is not a very common name in the galaxy. Surely there must be some relation."

"Even if there is, it doesn't mean anything. That's not how the force works, it's not just something you get from your great uncle once removed or however they're related."

MH-117 nodded his head and walked out of the room. As he shut the door he heard Beru scream in pain. Something seemed off about this family, they were just simple tourists yet they wouldn't give answers to simple questions and would rather be tortured. And the boy, Luke. Something seemed odd about him, whether it was his name or something else. He made his way towards the office comm and looked at the list of frequencies to use for certain situations. His eyes spotted one never before used on Tatooine and inputted it into the machine. He bowed his head and kneeled at the figure in front of him.

* * *

Lord Vader hated being interrupted from his meditation, specifically for something as unimportant as a message from that dreaded planet. But the force was calling out for him to answer it. There was something in the force convincing him that this was an important message that could be life changing.

"L-lord V-Vad-er, I-I'm so-so honored you a-accepted- accepted my transmission," the Stormtrooper on the other end stumbled over his words.

"Stand up and state you're business. If I hear you stutter one more time I'm ending this and considering it a waste of my time," Vader said.

The Stormtrooper stood and cleared his throat, clearly still terrified of the dark lord, "Yes sir, I mean my Lord. Umm… there's a boy here. A boy who I have identified to be a Jedi. He's about-,"

"A boy? You interrupted me to tell me about a boy you believe to be a Jedi? There are no more Jedi, I've personally seen to that. There is no one left to train him," Vader bellowed. He had been called over to listen to a backwater Stormtrooper tell him that on an outerrim planet someone was training Jedi. That was impossible, unless…

"Sir, uh Lord, I am sorry for interrupting you, I truly am. It's just this boy he-," Vader interrupted the trooper again.

"Did the boy tell you of a Master," Vader stated.

"A Master? No, we haven't exactly-,"

Vader hung up on the trooper. The force was pulling and calling for him to go to Tatooine. His Star Destroyer was only a few systems away and it couldn't hurt for him to check the planet. His old master knew how much he had hated the cursed desert planet therefore making it the perfect place to hide for six long years.

Six years. It had been six years since the raise of the Empire. Six long years since he last held his dear wife in his arms. Six years since he lost his child, his limbs, and his freedom from his life support suit and his master. Six years to the day.

Darth Vader snapped out of his musings and walked up to the bridge. "Commander, let the captain know we have a new destination," Vader said.

"Yes my Lord. To where?" the commander asked.

"Tatooine."

* * *

Okay so don't forget to review. I'll probably wait until the whole thing is done until I do edits and stuff.


	3. Rebels, Revelations, and Rum

Told you it would be quick, thanks to all of my reviewers!

* * *

The force called out a warning. For six years Obi Wan had lived on this planet and never once had the force called to him so strongly. He knew it had to do with Luke. The Lars family had taken a trip to Mos Espa, Beru had told him before they left. Owen had been against the whole plan calling it far too risky for Luke and Obi Wan couldn't agree more. He realized how important it was that Luke know where exactly his father grew up but Mos Espa was crawling with Imperials, Stormtroopers patrolled every street. It was not a safe place for Luke in the slightest.

Within seconds his hood was on, his pockets filled with his extra credits, and his lightsaber hung loosely on his side. Obi Wan strutted outside of his homestead and hopped onto his landspeeder, the faster he got to Luke the better, and at his current speed it didn't seem like he'd get there soon enough. It would take a miracle of the force to Luke before anything bad happened.

* * *

Beru didn't want to go through questioning any more. She was beat, bloody, and hardly awake anymore. But she knew she couldn't give up. Not now. Not after six precious years with her sweet nephew.

"We'll go through this one more time, what is your name?" The trooper asked.

"B-beru…..Lar…s" she forced out.

The trooper checked the lie detector attached to Beru. "Good," he said, "Where are you from?"

"Out…outside Anchorhead."

"Now tell me about your family. Any brothers or sisters?" It was at least the fifth time he asked her this question. Each time she responded it had come out as a lie.

"A… a sister… Luke's m-mother," she said.

The lie detector buzzed. Electricity swam through her boy.

"Now Beru, do you want to rephrase that? Are you sure you have a sister?" The Stormtrooper asked.

"…no…no sister…"

The lie detector stayed silent.

"Now we're getting somewhere. You listed your sister Shmi as Luke's mother. Well Shmi doesn't exist so who exactly are Luke's parents?" the trooper questioned.

Beru remained silent and received another bolt of electricity through her veins. She couldn't keep this up much longer, her façade had already been shattered and now she was being pushed to the edge.

"I'll ask one more time and start more slowly. Let's start with his mother. Who is the boy's mother?" the Stormtrooper asked.

Beru was tired, worn out, and could no longer feel the majority of her body. She just wanted the pain to end.

"P-padmé…. Padmé A…amidala," Beru said before fainting.

* * *

Luke sat down on the bed in his cell. He had been left alone for too long and was getting bored. The Stormtrooper who had been watching him disappeared as soon as he said his name. He didn't know who "General Skywalker" was but it couldn't have been his dad, his dad was a navigator on a spice freighter, not a general. He didn't quite understand why his aunt and uncle lied to the first Stormtrooper about his parents but it was always like that, they always told people he was related to his aunt, probably because his father was a criminal and they didn't want to get in trouble.

MH-117 entered the room at looked at Luke. Now that he thought about it the boy did kind of look like General Skywalker had on all of the war posters. The same eyes, the same hair, even the same chin. But KD-030 was right, there was no way this kid was a Jedi.

"Um… Mr. Stormtrooper, sir. I'm sorry if I did something wrong. I just want to go home…sir…" Luke mumbled.

MH-117 shook his head. He was certain this kid was no Jedi, he was far too nervous. Too gentile, too soft spoken to be the hard-headed General Skywalker's son as well. He was certain, this was not a child who should be in the custody of the empire.

"Okay, kid," Luke looked up at him, his eyes filled with betrayal, "Luke. I'm gonna try to get you out, okay?" MH-117 promised. He wasn't sure how well he'd be able to keep it but he had to do something to keep the kid from freaking out.

"You… you really promise?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, sure, Luke."

Luke looked up to the man as though he were staring into the eyes of the greatest hero in the galaxy, as though this man in front of him were the Hero with no Fear. MH-117 thought it to be ironic considering who the boy shared a surname with but brushed the feeling away. Just as MH-117 was about to go talk to his superior about letting the boy go KD-030 walked in.

"This boy is too transported straight to the Imperial Center," he said.

"What? Why?" MH-117 asked. The guardians seemed more than fit to take care of him. As soon as they woke up that was.

"He is the victim of a kidnapping and is to be taken immediately for further processing."

Kidnapping. The word swarmed around MH-117's mind like stars in light speed. There was no way this child was a victim of kidnapping. His guardians were perfectly capable of taking care of him and truly loved him. They were just poor moisture farmers, not kidnappers. They seemed relatively poor as well, they wouldn't just kidnap a child to take care of if they could hardly take care of themselves.

"I don't understand. Why would you take this case so seriously, it's just some backwater world kidnapping, it happens all the time. Who's to say that the kid's parents are even still alive? They could have saved him from the Sand People, or the family could have given him up," MH-117 said. He didn't know why he was defending this family but something inside of him said that it just wasn't right that the boy, Luke, should be taken away from his beloved family. They were the boy's aunt and uncle for Sith's sake.

"The boy is the son of a former member of the senate. He was thought to be dead for six years. A case like this is very sensitive and must be handled by the correct authorities. The Imperial Center for Displaced Children will handle it," KD-030 explained.

"And what of his guardians?" MH-117 asked. He did not like where this was going.

KD-030 didn't hesitate, "They will be executed for treason against the empire."

MH-117 looked over to Luke. The boy looked dazed and confused. His whole world was turned upside down. His beloved aunt and uncle had kidnapped him. He was starting to doubt that they really were his relatives. The life he had been living was nothing more than a compilation of lies given to him by his "aunt" and "uncle." To make matters worse the only two people who he had ever known as family, the two people in the galaxy who had ever cared for him, who had fed him bantha stew when he was sick, soothed him after every nightmare, and celebrated every birthday, were going to be executed.

"No!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. "Please no! Don't take them away from me," he sobbed into his hands.

Just as MH-117 was about to comfort Luke an explosion went off on the wall of the interrogation room. Anti-imperial protestors piled into the base, trampling over the bodies fallen to the floor from the bomb. Trampling over the body of Beru. They took out their blasters and started shooting. Everything and everyone became a target in their crusade to show off their "patriotism" towards the Old Republic. KD-030 commanded his troops to fire at will but by the time they were able to grab their outdated blasters half of the troopers were taken out.

KD-030 swore under his breath. There were far too many protestors for his depleting troopers to handle. He looked over to MH-117 and Luke. He couldn't let a citizen of the Empire be killed needlessly by some rebellious protestors with blasters.

"MH-117, get the boy to safety, he must be kept alive. Is that understood," KD-030 commanded.

"Yes sir." MH-117 gave a salute and opened the boy's cell. "Come on, kid, we have to go." Luke was not budging. He was too focused on the carnage around him. Stray bolts weaved around his head. Several had hit Uncle Owen's limp body. He wasn't sure if they came from protestors or Stormtroopers. He didn't care. Another bomb went off in the distance, this time it hit the break room. "Now!" MH-117 ordered.

Luke was drawn out of his gaze and ran out of his cell, MH-117 right next to him. He wasn't very fast and was slowing them down. MH-117 bent down and picked up Luke, slinging him over his shoulder. He ran as fast and as far away as he could. He felt Luke stiffen moments before he heard the final blast. He heard scrap metal falling from the sky and the whoops and hollers of victory coming from the protestors who were lucky enough not to get caught up in the destruction of the Mos Espa base.

"Kriff," MH-117 swore as he took a moment to look behind him.

Metal and limbs were falling from the sky like rain. They landed on to the sand with soft thuds. The spectacle was finished in only seconds but it felt like hours. In a mere matter of minutes his friends, coworkers, and job were all lost to him. Minutes. That's all it took for protestors. No. Not protestors. Rebels. Rebels had taken over the Mos Espa base. Rebels had stolen his friends and livelihood. And they did so in only a matter of minutes simply because the Stormtroopers at Mos Espa base were unprepared and unequipped.

MH-117 placed Luke down and took off his helmet. There was no one here to tell him whether or not to wear it so who cared. They walked side by side before they reached the local Cantina. A drink was the only thought on MH-117's mind.

"Hey, kid, you want anything?" he asked Luke.

"I'm six," Luke responded.

"Oh, right. Okay, just give me something cheap that'll get me drunk fast," he said to the bartender.

"A Stormtrooper, we don't get much of you here," the bartender said. He used two of his arms to make a drink, two more were cleaning some mugs while he rested his chin on the fifth. All four of his eyes were focused on MH-117.

"Yeah, well, the commander was a real hard ass," he said.

* * *

The trooper in charge of answering transmissions was just about to go on break when someone from Tatooine tried calling. That was odd, they had never had a transmission from Tatooine, at least not before earlier that day. In fact, getting two tranmissions from any one planet in a single day was quite odd unless they were communicating about an invasion or keeping Lord Vader updated on a rebel uprising. He put down his mug filled with hot caff and took the call. No image showed up.

"This is Star Destroyed Executor. Who is on the other line?" he asked, his voice filled with annoyance and boredom.

"Um… hi… I uh… how are you?" the voice said.

"I need your name, now or I'll hang up," he was starting to regret taking this call.

"Wait… don't hang up!" the voice seemed to…sniffle?

"How old are you?" he asked, a gnawing suspicion grew in his gut.

The sniffling stopped and the voice responded, practically beaming, "I just turned six today."

Six years old, his own boy was around that age, "Wow, what a big boy you are, but calling an imperial flagship is something you shouldn't be doing by yourself or at all until you join the military."

"Yeah but my friend's hurt and this was the last frequency on his comm. You have to help him!"

The last frequency on his comm? He must be talking about the Stormtrooper who was certain there was a Jedi on Tatooine. "Was there an attack? Are you in any danger?" he asked.

"Well there was an attack on the base," he paused mustering up all the courage he could to continue. "Th-they all died. And… and…and… the bad people were happy," the voice gave out a little cough from holding back tears.

The Stormtrooper was now frantic, "Are you hurt? Is your friend in one piece?" he asked.

"I'm okay, but my friend wasn't hurt in the attack. We're at a Cantina and he was drinking a lot but now he won't get up!" the voice's words were coming out at an alarming rate.

"We're on our way. I will inform Lord Vader about the attack. Do you have a room to stay in?"

"I live really far from here and I don't know where he lives…" the voice trailed off.

The trooper sighed, "Okay, go to the nearest hotel. I'm transferring you enough credits curtesy of the empire to stay a night at a hotel. Don't worry, boy, the Empire will make sure you and your friend are safe."

"My name's Luke, not boy," the boy, Luke, said defiantly.

"And mine's FS-736, it's nice to meet you, Luke."

* * *

Luke dragged the body of his passed out friend to the first hotel he could find. It wasn't much, during the time of the republic slaves had lived here but for the most part, in Mos Espa at least, slavery was mostly abolished. Uncle Owen had said it was the only good thing the empire had done. Luke's heart clenched at the thought. Had his aunt and uncle truly kidnapped him, were they even related? It didn't matter, he couldn't ask them, they were dead. Blown into pieces by angry citizens.

Luke entered the hotel and found an alien attending the front desk. He was large and took up nearly the entire space behind it. He leaned back on an oversized chair watching the news. The emperor was on talking about some new decision to crack down on anti-alien laws. The clerk made a sour face at the holo as the emperor spoke.

"Excuse me, sir?" Luke looked up at the alien.

"What'd'ya want, boy?" the alien asked.

"May I please have a room? My friend's hurt and won't wake up. A nice Stormtrooper gave us some money to rent out a room for him to recover in. He said it was a gift from the empire," Luke explained.

"A nice Stormtrooper, eh? Like those exist. I'll getcha a room, boy. How big a _gift_ did the empire give ya anyway?" he said the word gift as though it were poison.

"Umm…"Luke dug into his pocket and grabbed the comm. "He said he transferred it to this, but I don't know how to get to it," he said.

The alien took the comm from Luke's hand and fiddled with it for a moment. When he found the amount of credits he was blown away. The empire really was being generous to this kid for some odd reason. A plan started to work his way around his head.

"Oh no, looks like the empire really doesn't care about you all that much. They didn't send you much at all. Don't worry though, boy, I think I can squeeze you into one of our cheapest rooms," he said with mock sympathy.

Luke looked him dead in the eye. "You're lying."

"And how would ya know that?" he challenged.

"Because… I just know you are," Luke stated.

This kid couldn't possibly know he was lying. He had one of the best sabacc faces in the Outer Rim. He was bluffing, he had to be. "Okay, boy, listen. I really can't do better than this room. Just consider this part of my generosity."

Luke was about to argue but looked down at MH-117. He couldn't drag his friend around much longer. He weighed out his options and decided to just get the room. The alien got out of his chair and made his way outside and down the hall. He was starting to feel guilty for over charging the boy and offered up some old videos from the Clone Wars he had hanging around for him to watch while his friend napped on the bed.

Once the alien left Luke rolled MH-117 onto a bed and popped in a tape. They were all just old news footage that the alien must have recorded onto videoholos for later on but Luke didn't care. He became engrossed in every word the Jedi generals had to say. One Jedi specifically caught his attention. He was tall with blond hair and a scar across his face. What caught Luke's attention the most were his blue eyes. They were practically identical to his. The tapes cut in and out, and the top and bottom of many of them were cut off from the viewer.

MH-117 rolled over onto his side and groaned, placing a hand onto his head. He really should not have had that third drink, whatever it was. The name, along with his entire night escaped him. As he began to sit up it hit him. The podrcing arena. Luke. Jedi. Calling Vader. Kidnapping. The attack. His comrades. Dead.

He took in his surroundings and realized he was in some crummy hotel room in Mos Espa. In front of him was Luke, absorbed in old news from the days of the Clone Wars. On the Holo he noticed General Skywalker giving an interview about their latest attack.

"He was some warrior," MH-117 mumbled.

Luke turned around looking as though he had just seen a ghost. "You're alive!" he yelled as he ran u and tackled MH-117 onto the bed.

"Of course I am, I just had a bit much to drink is all. What are you watching?" he asked.

"Oh, the nice alien at the desk gave me some holos from the Clone Wars. They all have this really cool man in them and he fought in all these battles. Why don't we learn any of this in school? I thought history was important?" Luke asked.

MH-117 groaned. His head still hurt far too much to answer Luke's questions. "Hold up a second kid, the night still hasn't caught up with me yet."

"Oh. Well you drank a lot and called me your buddythe whole night. Um… there were a lot of girls surrounding you and petting me. It was kind of weird. Then you passed out so I called some Star Destroyer and-"

"You called a Star Destroyer? Luke, you can't just go calling some Star Destroyer without me," he scolded.

"I thought you were dead! Besides, the nice man gave us money from the empire to get this hotel room," he defended.

"Are they coming?" MH-117 asked.

"Who?"

"The Star Destroyer, is it coming here to help?" he clarified.

"Oh, yep! He said they'd be here today," Luke said cheerfully.

"Thank the stars."

* * *

"Sir, I didn't want to disturb you last night but there was another disturbance on Tatooine," FS-736 reported.

Vader looked to the trooper. What could have possible happened on that planet now? "Give me a brief report."

"Yes sir," FS-736 saluted. "It seems that there was a protest that turned deadly near the Mos Espa base. Sir, I don't know how to put this but our intelligence says that they're all… dead sir. All but one and a boy who was being held prisoner there at the time."

Vader didn't know what to say. He wasn't sure if he should be happy that the desert planet currently below them was suffering just as much as it had made him suffer. Or should he be angry. These protestors, or rebels it sounded more accurate, killed one of the empire's squadrons and destroyed empire property. He liked the feeling of anger more. He was determined to find this little rebellion and crush it before it took root.

"Prepare for landing in the Mos Espa port."

* * *

Okay, glad that's out. Hopefully more will be coming soon! Reviews, follows, and favorites keep me fueled though so the more of those the more effort I'll put into this. And yeah I know, huge bummer that Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen died but I didn't really want Luke to pin down their death on rebels or the empire (even though he's totally gonna pin it on the rebels, right?) so this is the best I could come up with. Don't worry though, Luke will still be Luke, just a little less trusting as he grows up.


	4. Vader versus Kenobi

Alright, next chapter. Thanks to all the reviewers!

* * *

Vader was met with a face full of sand. He hated sand. His troopers filed out of the Star Destroyer and lined up for their assignments. Vader looked over his troopers, each waiting on his command. He knew these men would lie down their very lives for him.

"I need you to scout out the base. If anyone suspicious is around bring them back here immediately for interrogation," Vader stated.

"What of the bodies?" One trooper piped up.

"Identify them and alert their families," Vader replied.

The battalion gave their salute and headed off to fulfill their mission. FS-736 turned around to look at Vader. "Sir," he began, "what should we do about the boy in custody?"

"I'll leave that up to you, I have other things to attend to," Vader stated.

FS-736 looked stunned, "Why thank you, sir, it's a great honor."

Vader dismissed him. As the trooper walked away he got his transportation ready to find the disturbance in the force. He felt out with all of his senses and felt a presence he hadn't felt since Mustafar. So Kenobi was here after all. He got into his ship and sped off towards the presence. Kenobi would not get away from him this time.

* * *

"What do you mean he took all of the credits?" MH-117 asked Luke.

"I mean he was lying about it not being enough but you were so heavy and I just wanted to go to sleep," Luke whined.

MH-117 shook his head, "Great, well now we're penniless and it's not like I'll be getting my job back, the whole kriffing base's destroyed."

"Sorry," Luke mumbled.

MH-117 looked down at him. It wasn't the kid's fault they were in this situation, it was his. He was the one who drank too much and passed out. This poor kid had to watch out for the guy in charge of protecting him.

"Is there any way I can be of assistance?" an older gentleman came up to them. His eyes looked old as though they had seen many terrible things. He had a Coruscanti accent and held himself as though he came from a noble family. His hair had once been auburn but was now streaked with grays and whites. His graying beard looked as though it hadn't been trimmed in months.

"Uh… no thank you. We're totally fine. We were just going on our way," MH-117 said. There was no way he was going to trust a strange old man after what happened yesterday.

MH-117 took Luke by the hand and lead him away from the odd man. Luke turned around and looked at him. "Ben?" Luke asked.

"Hello, Luke. You sure have grown since I last saw you," Ben smiled.

"Luke, you know this man?" MH-117 asked.

"Yeah, this is Ben. He used to come visit us at the moisture farm," Luke explained. "But… he hasn't come over in a season or so," Luke added.

"Yes well, Owen and I had a few… let's just say disagreements," Ben supplied.

MH-117 was about to say something when Ben suddenly looked startled. He quickly masked the emotion and looked MH-117 straight in the eye. "You need to get Luke out of here," Ben commanded. MH-117 looked up at him, confusion covering his face. "Now, Malcolm."

Malcolm? No one knew him as Malcolm on this planet. That was a name he left back on Lothal when he joined the Stormtroopers. How had this man known his real name? Unless…

"You! You're Obi Wan Kenobi!" He fumbled grabbing his blaster from his belt, "You are under arrest for conspiring against the empire," he yelled at the old man. People in the street stopped to look at the scene.

"That's all good and well, but let's not make a scene. There's a much bigger issue here. Please just take the boy and run," Obi Wan calmly said with urgency.

"But-," before Malcolm could finish his sentence a black ship raced through the streets. Obi Wan looked pleadingly at Malcolm. He knew he should have stood his ground, should have protested but the urgency in Obi Wan's eyes made him grab Luke and flee. Something told him that the upcoming fight was one he did not want to be a part of.

Obi Wan watched the door of the ship open. A figure dressed in black armor stepped out of it, his breath loud and heavy. As soon as he had seen the figure memories from long ago surfaced.

 _You were the chosen one! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them. You were to bring balance to the force, not leave it in darkness!_

 _I hate you!_

 _You were my brother, Anakin. I loved you._

"Darth Vader," Obi Wan said, looking the man in the mask.

"Obi Wan Kenobi, it has been a while. You must have been the one to start the rebellion," Darth Vader accused.

Obi Wan looked at him confusion covering his face, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"It does not matter, soon you will be dead and the Jedi order with you," Vader said as he ignited his crimson lightsaber.

Obi Wan followed suit and the fight began. They exchanged blows left and right each as skillful as the other. The six years had taken its toll on both men neither as fast as they once had been. Vader, however had a slight upper hand. He had continued battling for the past six year where as Obi Wan was cowering on Tatooine. They made their way through an alley and struck at each other once again. Their lightsabers were locked against each other. They force pushed eachother away and made their way out of the alley and into a neighborhood filled with overcrowded buildings.

As the battle continued Vader took control of the offence while Kenobi continued to block each on coming hit. While he was busy blocking another swing, Vader used the force to throw a near by trash bag at him. Kenobi was momentarily destracted long enough for Vader to swing at Obi Wan, slicing off his hand in the process. Obi Wan let out a yelp of pain. Vader took his pain as an opportunity to force push him from under the garbage and into the nearest house.

Kenobi let out a groan as he forced himself up and back into a fighting position. He looked over his old apprentice. Vader's limbs were no longer his own, instead they were metal replacements for the ones he had chopped off. The black armor was to hide the body that had been burned and disfigured after landing in lava. Obi Wan guessed the respirator was now a necessity from burned lungs, another remnant from their battle.

 _If you're not with me, you're my enemy._

 _Only a Sith Lord deals in absolutes._

As he started to get up Vader put a large foot on his chest. Obi Wan tried again to lift himself but quickly gave up. There was no use, he was too weak from the blood loss and dizzy from his recent crash. After giving up he looked up to the boy who was once his padawan, his brother.

 _Padme, I need your help. Anakin is in grave danger._

 _From the Sith?_

 _From himself . . . Padme, Anakin has turned to the dark side._

 _You're wrong! How could you even say that?_

 _I have seen a security hologram of him killing younglings._

Vader pushed his foot down harder onto Obi Wan's chest. He let out a grunt as his breath began to labor. This was how he was going to join the force. Not by old age, not in some huge battle lasting hours. In a battle against his former padawan that lasted only long enough to get Luke out of sight. He shook his head and looked up at his onetime friend, the man who had once been his only family.

 _Why do I get the feeling you're going to be the death of me?_

 _Don't say that, master. You're the closest thing I have to a father._

* * *

Luke looked miserable, he hadn't wanted to leave Kenobi. He was the only person from Anchorhead Luke had left. Malcolm hadn't stopped running since they first saw the ship and was almost at the destroyed base. He knew that the Stormtroopers Luke had called would turn up at his old place of work. Malcolm was of course correct. An entire battalion of troops examined the remnants of the base looking for clues left by those who had carried out the attacks. Some troopers were carrying out pieces of bodies, victims of the rebel's attack. He made Luke look away as he walked up to one of the troopers.

"What's going on?" Malcolm asked.

"Sir, this is strictly empire business. Please move along," the trooper replied.

"I am MH-117, one of the Stormtroopers stationed at this base. I demand to know why you're carrying out all of these dead bodies," Malcolm demanded.

"You were the trooper who survived?" the Stormtrooper asked.

Malcolm looked down at himself. He had taken off the white helmet during his night at the bar. Luke must have taken off his armor to make him more comfortable last night in the hotel room.

"Yes, I am. This is Luke. His family was in custody during the bombing," Malcolm said, pushing Luke forward.

"Hi," Luke said, his head to the ground. He was still fearing for Obi Wan's safety. He was the only one who could get him home, back to Anchorhead.

The trooper looked down at Luke then back up to the Stormtrooper accompanying him. "Follow me, FS-736 wanted to speak to any survivors. I believe he said he was looking for a little boy as well," the trooper said.

The pair did as they were asked and followed him into a makeshift base. They must have set it up rather quickly considering its lopsidedness. The base was a small tent with some wires coming out of it. Whichever way the Tatooine winds blew, it followed. The trooper opened up the flap of the tent to reveal another trooper scribbling down words on a datapad.

"FS-736, these are the two survivors from the bombing. They just showed up to the base," the trooper explained.

"Thank you, LR-918, you are dismissed," FS-736 said as the other Stormtrooper saluted and walked out of the tent. FS-736 turned to his new guests. He assumed the older man was the "friend" the boy had talked about. Luke. The child was very protective of his name. "You must be Luke. I'm the man you commed last night," he explained.

"Hi," Luke said, a bit distracted by the noise outside the tent.

"And you're the man who passed out and left this boy to fend for himself," FS-736 scowled.

Malcolm looked embarrassed, "It was a long day," he explained.

FS-736 nodded, still not convinced. "Your report from yesterday," he said.

Malcolm saluted and began the report, "Yes sir. We were told of a Jedi sighting in Mos Espa by the old Pod Racing arena and went to investigate. The witness said it was Skywalker, however he pointed out a couple along with little Luke here. We took them back to the base for questioning. The husband didn't provide much information however the wife told us that they had kidnapped Luke as a child. Before we could do anything the bombing happened. Protesters attacked the base so I was ordered to save Luke and run."

FS-736 looked at Luke shocked, "Are his biological parents still alive?"

"I do not believe them to be," Malcolm said.

FS-736 continued to look at Luke. There was something so familiar about him but he just couldn't place his finger on it. What was he going to do with a six year old orphan boy? Especially one who happened to be a key witness to an important trial. "We'll have to place him in the Imperial Child Services. Hopefully he'll get a nice foster home," he finally decided. "What's your last name?" he asked as he wrote in some information for child services.

Luke looked up at the Stormtrooper. He didn't know his last name anymore. If Owen and Beru had kidnapped him, how could he know for sure that Skywalker was his real last name? "I…I don't know…" Luke answered.

Poor kid, he was so shocked and confused after his long day. With the man tasked to protect him slacking off and passing out he doubted Luke got any sleep at all. "Okay, what was the last name of the people who raised you?" FS-736 asked.

"L-lars," Luke stuttered.

FS-736 nodded his head in understanding and wrote down the last name. "Okay, Luke Lars it is. Luke, do you like traveling in space?" he asked in an excited voice hoping to calm Luke down.

Luke shook his head excitedly, "I wanna be a pilot when I grow up!"

FS-736 smiled, "Well, I have some good news for you. I'm going to get you a flight all the way to Coruscant, how does that sound?"

Luke looked excited for a moment until he realized what he meant by going to Coruscant. He would never come back to Tatooine, never see his Aunt and Uncle be buried, never find Ben. His entire life would change. "I don't know-," Luke began before being cut off by Malcolm.

"Come on, Luke, what's left here for you anyway? In Coruscant anything can happen. You don't have anywhere else to go," he said.

Luke took that into consideration. It was true. Hos guardians were dead, Ben was most likely dead, he just knew it from the way Malcolm dragged him away from the oncoming battle, and there was no way he would be able to fend for himself in Anchorhead. He looked up at Malcolm, "Will you come with me?" Luke asked.

"I'm needed here, little buddy, to find the people responsible for all this. But if I ever make it to Coruscant I'll be sure to look you up, okay?" he said.

"Okay," Luke sadly agreed.

Malcolm walked out of the tent to help out the rest of the Stormtroopers. Luke looked up at his new guardian. He was busy on the datapad filling out the information needed to get Luke off of the force forsaken planet and on to his new life in Coruscant.

"So, what's your real name?" Luke asked.

FS-736 looked up, "Excuse me?"

"Your real name. I mean that was MH-117 but his real name was Malcolm. What's your real name? Your parents didn't just name you FS-736, did they?" Luke asked innocently.

"How did you come across MH-117's real name, Luke?" FS-736 asked.

Luke looked up at him, confused about why his real name would be such a big concern, "Ben called him Malcolm, isn't that his real name? Don't all of you have real names?"

"How did this Ben know MH-117's name?" He was getting more and more confused.

Luke shrugged, "I dunno, Malcolm called him something else though. I think he said Obi Wan or something."

Obi Wan. Obi Wan Kenobi had been a famous Jedi during the Clone Wars but he surely couldn't mean him. All of the Jedi were dead. "Obi Wan… Kenobi?" he forced himself to ask, not sure if he wanted to know the answer. If such a skilled Jedi were on Tatooine that would make their mission a more difficult. They would need troops patrolling the area, Vader would be easily irritated. Well, more easily irritated that is. They wouldn't be able to rest until the Jedi scum was out of the picture.

"I think so, that was Ben's last name anyway," Luke said. He looked down to his lap and began fiddling with his fingers. "Do you think Ben's okay? There was a scary man who attacked him with a red stick and… and Ben's the closest thing to family I have left. I mean since Aunt Beru an Uncle Owen…" Luke let the ending hang. He couldn't say the rest. Not yet.

It didn't take much for FS-736 to put together who the man with the red stick was. Luke's friend, Ben, or Obi Wan, or whoever he was, was probably dead. "I'm sure he'll be okay," he lied. "Besides, soon enough you'll have a new family in Coruscant with plenty of food and care. You know, Coruscant has the best schools in the galaxy? I'm sure you'll have a great time there," he tried to sound excited but knew Luke was still upset.

"I know you're lying about Ben. I always know when people are lying. Is the scary man going to kill him too?" Luke asked.

FS-736 sighed and looked Luke right in the eye, "He probably will."

* * *

Vader made it back to his ship much happier than when he left it. "Happy" wasn't exactly the right word, but surely in a much better mood. He had taken care of whatever problem he had set out to fix that much was clear to all men aboard his ship. Vader wasn't "happy" because there was still a disturbance in the force coming from Mos Espa. He couldn't quite place where it was coming from but it was starting to turn his better mood worse.

He made his way to the communications room to contact the emperor about Obi Wan. Darth Vader hated these brief meetings but the emperor wanted to stay informed of any big news. Vader started up the holo projector and kneeled down on to his knee.

The emperor's hooded figure came into view. "Why did you decide to disturb me, Lord Vader?" he grumbled.

"My master, I have found Kenobi at long last while investigating a protest turned rebellion on Tatooine," he said.

"Kenobi? Did you deal with him my apprentice?" the emperor asked. This mundane report was starting to get interesting.

"He has been dealt with," Vader replied.

"And what of the rebellion, how is the search for the perpetrators?"

"There were only two witnesses left alive. It seems the rebels detonated at least three explosives. Only one Stormtrooper survived."

"What of the other witness?" the emperor asked.

"A local boy it seems. He was a prisoner in the base when it happened," Vader said.

"Hmm," Vader could tell the emperor was scheming under his cloak. Did he know something Vader didn't know? "I trust you to deal with this, my old friend. Figure out who the rebels are and report back to me within the next seventy two standard hours." With that the emperor turned off his communicator and left Vader to his own thoughts about destroying the blossoming rebellion.

* * *

Please don't hate me for the Obi Wan thing. I had a lot of ideas but this one seemed the most organic. I feel like at this point in the universe Obi Wan has mostly been working on meditation and stuff like that while Vader has been out doing combat missions and killing Jedi for the past six years. Anyway please follow, favorite and review!


	5. Bye Bye Tatooine

Okay everyone, it's the moment you've been waiting for. Luke and Vader finally meet.

* * *

Vader stalked down the halls of his flagship. The men around him instantly noticed his sour mood, so contrasting to how he had been earlier. He made his way out and back into the burning suns. _The Executor_ wasn't too far away from the base and he opted to walk there rather than ride. Vader wanted to feel the fear from the citizens of Mos Espa as he walked through their streets. To show them that the Empire takes all threats seriously. He brought two Stormtroopers with him to truly intimidate the populous.

As the entourage walked through the streets people huddled together and whispered.

"That's Lord Vader. They say he can kill you just by looking at you."

"I heard that he's not even human, just a droid."

"He's so scary."

The names no longer bothered him. He'd heard enough of them in the past six years. It seemed that it was easier for most to think he was just a droid rather than a man who had almost been robbed of his limbs, his lungs, and his life. Vader had come to terms with his new appearance quite well considering all that he had lost.

Darth Vader paid no attention to the whispers until he heard a familiar voice. It was gruff and had an unusual accent. He knew the owner of the voice was no native to Tatooine. Vader walked up to the old parts shop where the voice's owner, a Toydarian, hovered. He was talking to a poorly dressed man in huttese.

 _"I bet he's here for the Jedi I found earlier,"_ Vader over heard him say.

He walked up to the Toydarian's shop. The two men were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't even notice Darth Vader approaching. He looked the store up and down. It hadn't changed much since he last saw it. It was still dirty inside and outside. Droid parts were visible from the open door.

 _"You know, my old slave was Jedi. The famous one from the Clone Wars. Little Ani Skywalker. Poor kid's probably dead."_ Watto said.

Vader looked at his old slaver. The years had not been kind to him, he was more wrinked than he had been before. His teeth, or what he had left of them were rotted out. Business had not been as good as it was when Anakin had worked there, that much was clear.

" _Chut chut,"_ Vader said, trying to get the man's attention.

Watto looked over to him. His eyes grew wide with realization on who had stumbled onto their conversation. "Why-ehh, Lord Vader, what a…ehh… honor it is to welcome you to my store. Is there anything I can…ehh… help you with?" Watto stumbled.

 _"You may speak in Huttese, you seem much more capable at that,"_ Vader stated.

 _"You know… Huttese?"_ Watto asked. It suddenly dawned on him that Vader had known everything he had said, about the Jedi and about Anakin.

" _I know much more than you think,"_ he replied.

Watto swallowed and led Vader into his shop. Vader had left his Stormtroopers outside to stand guard. He had wanted to talk to his former slaver privately. He looked inside the shop, noting the counter he used to sit on, the broken droids he would have had to fix, and of course the door to the junkyard where he had found many interesting treasures. He took a seat at the table Watto used for his deals.

 _"So, what is it you're looking for?"_ Watto asked carefully. It was well known throughout the galaxy that Darth Vader had a terrible temperament. One wrong word could easily upset him.

Vader bent down and started tinkering with a pit droid, _"Do you know who I am?"_ He asked.

Watto looked at him for a moment perplexed by what he meant. _"Of course I know you, you're Darth Vader, second in command of the empire,"_ he said.

Vader continued fixing up the droid, _"No, Watto, behind the mask."_

 _"They say you're a droid, that you're not human. Others think that you're a clone made with extra_ _midichlorians,"_ he replied.

 _"What do you say?"_

Watto looked at Lord Vader, really looked at him for the first time. There was something familiar about him. The way he walked, his posture, even the little things he did like tinkering with a broken droid. For a moment Watto thought… but that would be impossible, _"I think that you are just a man in a lot of armor. By the look of your lightsaber I would say a Jedi but those no longer exist. Why, do I know you? All of the Jedi I once knew are dead."_

Vader finished up his droid and placed it on the table. _"Jedis aren't the only ones to have lightsabers. Not that a slaver like you would know anything about the sith."_

A slaver? How had Darth Vader known he had owned slaves? He didn't keep any anymore, in fact he had only owned two slaves, Shmi and… Anakin.

"Ani? Little Ani?" Watto asked in basic. Vader just looked at him. "But how? You were eh a Jedi knight. You eh were dead," Watto said, he had begun to shake.

"It's me Watto. I came to finally get my revenge. Something the Jedi would never let me do," he said as he activated his lightsaber.

"No, please Ani! I'll do anything! Anything you ask," Watto pleaded.

 _"Goodbye, Watto."_ With a swing there was one less slaver in the galaxy.

* * *

Luke was still sitting in the base. It seemed like hours since he had last been outside. He just wanted all the paperwork to go through so he could say good bye to Tatooine and finally start a new life. FS-736 walked into the tent and towards Luke.

"I have good news for you, Luke. All of your paperwork went through, you're going to the Imperial Center," FS-736 said excitedly.

Luke looked at him confused. "Wait, I thought I was going to Coruscant? Where's Imperial Center?"

"It's the same planet. Six years ago it was called Coruscant but since the creation of the empire it's been known as Imperial Center since it's the capitol," FS-736 explained.

"Oh, but I'll still get a family, right? And a good school?" Luke asked.

"Of course you will, why else would we take you there?"

Luke smiled at the trooper. He was so glad that someone was there for him. He was still upset about the deaths of his aunt and uncle and he wasn't really sure what had happened to Ben, although he was almost certain that the scary man had killed him as well.

FS-736 was walking around to his desk when Vader's towering figure appeared in the doorway. His arms were crossed over his chest. Vader wanted absolutely no nonsense from the Stormtrooper. Although, FS-736 wasn't exactly sure what Vader wanted from him yet. Vader walked into the base hardly giving Luke a glance and looked right to the trooper.

"Do you have any news to report about the witnesses?" Vader asked.

"Lord Vader, the Stormtrooper is being interrogated as we speak. I believe we will be forced to find him a new position. He had been following orders from his commander when he took the boy out of the base. He still has yet to give any information regarding who was behind the attack, but did point out some who were involved. We are working on their interrogations next," FS-736 responded.

"And what of the boy?" Vader asked. Luke stiffened I his scary man, Lord Vader as FS-736 called him, was even more terrifying up close.

"Sir, I was going to bring the boy to Imperial Center. He has lost everything in the past twenty four hours, he is in no shape to be subjected to questioning. Besides, the trooper gave us more than enough information to lead to the arrests. If you want we can have Luke identify them once they are on Imperial Center. He will obviously be a key witness in their trial," FS-736 said.

The boy's name was Luke. That was what Padmé had wanted to name their child. Anakin had teased her that it would be a funny name for their daughter. He shook the thought out of his head and looked at the boy. He looked like any other Tatooine native, blond hair, tan skin, and he was small. So small Vader guessed his age to be around four or five. "Why is the boy going to Imperial Center, why not give him back to his family?" Vader asked, still looking down at Luke.

"We do not believe he has any, sir. It seems he was kidnapped as a baby by two people he believed to be his aunt and uncle," FS-736 clarified.

The force was screaming out to Vader to do something about the boy. He couldn't tell what it wanted, but something more had to be done with this boy. "Have his blood tested for any living relatives. Send him to them once the trial is finished," Vader commanded.

"How do you know he'll have any?" FS-736 asked.

"The force tells me he does," was all Vader replied.

As Vader was about to exit the door Luke built up his courage and yelled to him, "You're the reason why I have to leave! You killed Ben!"

"Ben?" Vader questioned.

Luke started to cry, he wiped away his own tears, "Yeah, Ben Kenobi! He was good to Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru even if Uncle Owen was mean to him. I was gonna go back to Anchorhead with him but-but you killed him!" Luke let out a large sob and sat on the chair crying into his arms.

Vader was confused, to say the least. He didn't kill anyone named Ben on Tatooine, unless the boy meant Obi Wan. Then there were the names of his so called aunt and uncle. Owen and Beru. He knew those names, they were the names of Anakin Skywalker's step brother and his girlfriend. "Owen and Beru Lars?" Vader asked no one in particular.

"So you know them?" FS-736 asked. He had walked over to Luke's chair to comfort him.

"In a way," Vader said. "Just send the boy to the Imperial Center I have much more pressing things to take care of." Vader turned around and exited the door. He went straight to his meditation pod on _The Executor._ He needed to figure out why the force was screaming to him whenever he was around the boy. Had he been Obi Wan's son? No, Obi Wan was too strict to fall from the Jedi code. Maybe it was all just a coincidence. Beru and Owen were the only two people on Tatooine that Obi Wan knew of, outside if Watto that is. The boy was a mystery for another time, what he needed to figure out now is why he had cared so much when he saw the boy shed a tear, why for the first time in six years he had felt ashamed of himself.

* * *

"Are you going to be okay, Luke?" FS-736 asked the boy.

Luke nodded his head. He wiped more tears away using his sleeve. FS-736 grabbed a nearby tissue and handed it to him. Luke blew into it with all his might. Lord Vader had scared him more than anything, even more than the Sand people.

"Why is he so scary?" Luke asked.

"He's not that scary, Luke, he's just an angry person," FS-736 explained.

"Why is he so angry?" Luke asked. He was calming down a bit.

"No one really knows. Some say he's a droid programmed to bring fear to everyone who sees him but I don't believe that. You know, there's a man under that mask. I saw the back of his head once. Something awful must have happened to put him in that suit,"FS-736 said.

"What happened?" Luke asked, he was finished crying and was now fully listening to the tale.

"No one knows all that much about him. His first appearance was at the Jedi temple, he's the one who started the purges. Then he just disappeared for a month. When he returned he took command of the Imperial navy and became second in line for the throne. Not bad for a man who came out of nowhere."

"You mean, no one knew about him until the Jedi purges?" Luke asked.

"Yes, and even then there's no surviving video of him doing it so it's all based off of what the emperor tells us."

Luke looked thoughtful for a moment. His aunt and uncle never really said much about Darth Vader. Every once in a while he would appear on the HoloNet but they would quickly turn the channel to something else. Sometimes Luke thought that it was because Darth Vader was able to reach out and get you from the screen. He knew that it was kind of silly, an idea for babies really, but he could not think of any better explanation.

FS-736 looked up at the wall chrono and realized that it was just about time for Luke to leave. He had booked him a flight out of Mos Espa and into The Imperial Center. Once there Luke would be taken into the custody of the Imperial Child Services and given a new home. "Look at the time! I have to get you to the space port before you're stranded here with me and Lord Vader," FS-736 teased.

Luke looked up to the chrono with wide eyes. It was finally time for him to leave Tatooine, the only home he had ever known. He knew it would be a wonderful new life but didn't want to leave, not yet. He still needed to fly through Beggar's Canyon, visit Mos Eisley, and make sure the vaporators didn't malfunction. He knew he was getting what most people on the planet could only dream of but something in him just didn't want to go.

"You know, when l left my home planet for the first time, I was frightened too," FS-736 supplied.

"You were?" Luke asked.

FS-736 nodded his head. "I'm sure anyone would be, even Darth Vader. But we all need to go and see new things and experience a new life, in order to grow."

Luke looked at him and agreed. He couldn't stay on Tatooine his entire life, he needed to get off of the planet in order to become a pilot. FS-736 led Luke out of the base and towards the space port.

Luke was amazed by the size of it. FS-736 had seen much bigger but let Luke gawk at his surroundings. There were several spaceships all lined up, each with its own destination. Shops were everywhere with different species coming in and out of them. He stared at the engines of the ships wondering if they were anything like the one his father had navigated. He realized that that was a stupid thought, his father had navigated a spice freighter, not a commercialized ship. Besides, he wasn't even sure if his father really was Anakin Skywalker, it was probably just a name Owen and Beru had made up. Luke began to wonder, if he had been kidnapped, did that mean his father was still alive and out there waiting for him?

* * *

Darth Vader stalked the halls of _The Executor_ making sure all of his men were doing their jobs. He had been meditating on the boy for an hour and was still as confused as he had been earlier. The boy was clearly filled with secrets. He had been staying with his step-brother and sister-in-law for his entire life, somehow knew Obi Wan, and the more Vader thought of it the odder his force signature was. It was as though it was being shielded but that wasn't right. Only those who have trained in the force could conceal their presence. The boy was a mystery that Vader hoped would be solved through the blood test.

He turned a corner and nearly popped a blood vessel. Instead of trying to find the rebels three Stormtroopers had their eyes glued to the HoloNet. They were watching a gossip news network about how the Jedi were still around, just under the Empire's noses. The clip they were showing now was clearly of Kenobi on Tatooine fighting a clan of Tusken raiders. Vader turned off the show using the force. The troopers were confused until they looked behind them to see Lord Vader standing there. They gave a shaky salute to him and quickly walked out of the room. Vader allowed them to leave, he had already killed enough for one day.

He continued monitoring the work of his men. Many of which were using blood samples to identify the dead. As he walked past one trooper's screen he noticed the sample along with the details of the deceased.

 _Name: Lars, Owen_

 _Age: 33 standard years_

 _Species: Human_

 _Gender: Male_

 _Deceased_

So it was true. Owen had been killed in the rebellion. It didn't help Vader in discovering who the boy truly was. Why had Owen kidnapped a child? It wasn't in his nature to do so, he seemed like a decent enough man. So what exactly had happened for him to snap and steal a baby?

"Stormtrooper, send me any information you can find on Owen and Beru Lars," Vader commanded the closest trooper.

"Yes, my Lord," the Stormtrooper said, giving a salute.

There was something Vader was missing. A large piece of the puzzle that would solve it. He just needed to be patient and wait for the blood tests. Surely those would shed some light on the entire situation.

Somehow, Vader found himself in the company of Admiral Ozzel and Captain Piett. He didn't mind Piett too much, the man was fearful but humble, unlike Ozzel. Ozzel was arrogant and acted as though everything should be handed to him. Vader gave a nod of acknowledgment to the two men and continued out of the ship. They followed him out asking if he had contacted the emperor, if the troops were any closer to figure out who started the rebellion, and if he had questioned the witnesses. These men were treating him as though he were some idiot who just joined the navy. If only they knew how long he had truly been fighting in wars. That Vader hadn't just joined in the beginning of the empire but that he had been fighting since before the Clone Wars.

He brushed them off and made it to where the base once was. It was scorched to the ground. Blood was evident on the walls. It was truly an isolated bombing. If one looked close enough they would see where the desk once was, where each if the walls intersected. He noticed two chairs still somewhat intact. Troopers rushed out of the ruins with body parts in their arms. A few carried out body bags. Inside was a body burned beyond recognition. He looked down at his feet and noticed a piece of scrap metal. It gave the number of one of the fallen troopers, one whose body was likely scattered across the floor. The number didn't mean anything to Vader, it would only make finding the family a bit easier. Looking own at it he noticed something odd. The number, KD-030 started with a zero. Only clone troopers had been given zeros starting their serial number. Somehow a clone trooper messed up enough to land him on Tatooine.

Vader placed the scrap metal in his pocket and continued to look for clues as to how they could have pulled this off. He searched with both his eyes and the force. Neither gave him any help. Until, that is, he took note of where each blast was. The blasts had come from the inside. All of them. That means that the protestors didn't blow up a wall, pile inside, and then blow up more walls in a fit of rage. The whole thing had been carefully orchestrated by a man on the inside, or at least one who had been on the inside.

He swiftly walked out of the destroyed base and into their tent base. He opened up a datapad and started looking into any arrests that had been made before yesterday. There had only been one, a week before. The man had been arrested for destroying empire property, nothing too uncommon. Although, he had been held in the cell for four days. That would have been plenty of time to set up a bomb from the prison cells. It all matched up. This man was the rebel leader.

* * *

"Are you ready to go Luke?" FS-736 asked.

Luke looked at the ship he'd be flying on, "It sure is big," he said, ignoring the question.

"Yeah? I guess it is. Although, if you're ever free and your new guardians let you I'll show you an even bigger one," FS-736 said.

Luke's eyes lit up, "Really? You'll show me a gigantic spaceship?" Luke asked.

FS-736 nodded, "Sure, Luke. When you get to Imperial Center and are all settled in I'll make sure to find you and show you one of the biggest ships in the galaxy," he said.

"Is it the one Lord Vader flies?" Luke asked, his mood weakening a bit.

"How did you- yes, it is. But don't worry, I'm sure I can convince him to let you on. I think he has a soft spot for you, you know."

Luke shifted on his feet. He wasn't sure Lord Vader even had soft spots, he just seemed cold and hard, like metal. Luke knew better than to see him as a monster or a machine, FS-736 told him he believed Vader to have once been a man so he believed him.

Besides Vader only one other thing was on Luke's mind. "Do you think they'll find my real parents?" Luke asked.

FS-736 wasn't sure how to respond. He didn't want to give the boy false hope that his parents were still alive. He didn't know much about the whole situation himself but there was something about the boy that made him want to give him hope. "It's a big galaxy, Luke, anything can happen. We're going to be doing those blood tests on you, and as long as your parents have been good citizens and submitted their own blood into the system, I'm sure we'll find them or at least someone related to you," FS-736 assured Luke.

Luke looked down but gave a soft nod, "Okay. I just hope that they're still out there, somewhere."

FS-736 put a hand on Luke's small back, "For now, let's focus on getting you out of here, I'm sure you've been waiting for this moment for a long time."

Luke hid his sadness from the realization that maybe, just maybe, his parents were no longer alive, "Yep! I'm so excited to finally get into space," Luke said.

LS-736 chuckled at his enthusiasm, "I bet you are."

As Luke was walking up into the door he looked down at the Stormtrooper and remembered something, "You never told me your real name!" Luke shouted horrified.

FS-736 smiled, "It's Frank, Frank Hudrix."

A large grin spread across Luke's face as he boarded the ship. A kind attendant showed him to his seat. He buckled himself up and listened to the pilot give instructions for all sorts of scenarios. The ship finally blasted off and into space. It was much colder than Luke expected. He stayed awake throughout the entire ride staring at the stars as they flew by. He didn't want to miss a thing.

Hours had gone by until another announcement sounded, "Ladies, gentlemen, aliens of all species, welcome to The Imperial Center. We will be landing in just a few moments."

Luke looked out his window, across the sea of tall buildings. It was so densely populated he couldn't even see the planet's surface. He took in every skyscraper, every ship that drove by, and every civilian they passed. Most were nicely dressed and looked well off. Their hair was twisted into odd fashions and elaborate braids. Luke noticed a small area of green on top of a building where children were playing. A park he had guessed.

The ship finally landed into an even bigger space port than the one on Mos Espa. This port had multiple levels, stretching up further than what Luke could see. He was staring up at the ceiling when a big man bumped into him. He gave a small apology and walked forward. Frank had told him to look out for a person holding up a blue sign. He had said they would be well-dressed and the sign would say "Imperial Child Services." Luke searched the crowd for a blue sign but saw multiple each being held by well-dressed people. Luke hadn't learned how to read yet, Uncle Owen had promised to teach him when he was older, but that time never came.

Finally a kind looking woman stepped forward and walked up to Luke. Her hair was elaborately done in buns and braids each cascading into the other. Her attire seemed to speak only of business and bottom lines, but her face was warm and inviting.

"I'm guessing you're Luke Lars?" she asked.

Luke nodded his head, "Yes, ma'am."

She smiled at him, "I'm from ICS, Imperial Child Services. I'm here to take you to your new family and take some blood to test, if that's alright with you."

Luke nodded his head once more. Maybe Imperial Center wasn't that bad after all.

* * *

So I think I'm going to make this into a three or four part series about Luke and Vader with some little one or two shot stories in between. I've seen a few people do that and I really think that it works well. I'm only gonna do about 10 or 15 chapters per big book, and at most 5 for the smaller ones. Anyway, thanks for reading, don't forget to follow, favorite, and review!


	6. The Chieve Family

Sorry this took so long to get out, I've been pretty busy. Anyway, there's a bit more about why Vader didn't quite know that Luke was his son. But I'm just gonna write them up here too. It makes sense to him that Obi Wan and the Lars family would know each other, they were really the only people Obi Wan knew on Tatooine. Luke's a common enough name not to be suspicious since other people would name their child Luke. Owen and Beru could have had other relatives besides him. I mean he really only knew them for a little bit and spent most of that time sulking about his mom. And most importantly, he thinks his son is dead. If you saw a person you though to be dead your first reaction isn't "Oh it's that guy,I honestly thought he was dead but it turns out he's alive." It's more of "That's totally someone else, that guys dead therefore anyone else except that person makes 10000 times more sense.

Anyway, sorry about the little rant I just wanted to explain why Vader wouldn't think Luke was his child. They won't be reunited for another couple of chapters but I hope that the rest of the story is entertaining for you, it just sets up the series and stuff like that and helps build Luke's character a bit before Vader takes over. Hope you enjoy it!

* * *

"So, Luke, are you ready for your new home?" the ICS agent asked.

Luke was a bit nervous, he wasn't really sure what he wanted anymore. It had only been a few hours since he landed on Imperial Center but he was already homesick. The one thing to keep him going was that with his blood test he may finally be able to be reunited with his real parents.

"I guess so. Will they be nice?" Luke asked.

"Of course they will be, silly. We only pick out the best foster parents for our charges. You see, Luke, many families have been torn apart from all the rebel attacks. Along with the Empire's child safety act that takes children away from their parents if they are being mistreated it's lead to an over population in orphanages. So we usually send the human children to live with foster families or group homes," she explained.

"Only the humans? So any alien species get placed in orphanages?" Luke wondered.

The woman shook her head, "Mostly just the humans. Some families want to foster alien species for their careers in politics. It makes them look good. But because of the anti-alien acts those families are dwindling."

Luke's mouth turned into a frown, "I don't get those laws, I mean why just the aliens, there are plenty of humans who are just as bad, if not worse."

The woman almost halted the ship before realizing what a terrible idea that would be. "Luke, you can't just say things like that," she scolded.

"Why not?" he asked

"Because, it's against the empire. You could be arrested for treason and sent to a juvenile center. Just don't say anything against the empire, the emperor, or Darth Vader in front of your foster family," she warned.

Luke placed his hands on his lap and sighed, "Okay, I'll try not to."

"Good. Now here it is, your new home," she cheerfully said.

The building was extremely tall, taller than anything Luke had ever seen. It stretched well beyond what Luke could see. He was sure that it didn't stop until it hit the clouds. The outside was quite boring, just a gray skyscraper with some balconies jetting off of each floor. They landed the ship in a wider balcony made into a parking lot and got out. The woman led Luke towards a door at the far end. Once they entered the building Luke gasped.

The floor was covered in a lavish red carpet stretching out all the way to a golden reception desk. The desk was decorated in patterns and designs swirling and twisting their way around in gentle waves. The walls were also gold plated and held pictures of the building from different decades. One picture had the Emperor in it shaking hands with a man who Luke assumed was the owner. Speaking of the emperor behind the desk a large hand painted portrait of the man hung. He was shrouded by his cloak but it was no doubt him. There were a few leather chairs lined up against one wall and an elevator interrupted the set of pictures on another.

The woman walked straight up to the desk and told the man to let the Chieve family she was there with their newest family member. The man commed the family and told her to take a seat. She and Luke sat for a few moments when a wealthy looking man stepped out of the elevator. He had an odd looking mustache and the furriest eyebrows Luke had ever seen.

"Mr. Chieve, it is so good to see you again. This is Luke, he just arrived on planet a few hours ago," the woman said.

"It is wonderful to see you again as well my dear. Please come up to my home so we can fill out all of the necessary paperwork," he smiled.

The three gathered into the elevator and it began to rise. The woman and Mr. Chieve continued their conversation asking about the other's career and life. Luke didn't know why but there was something about this man he didn't trust. While the woman was genuinely kind the man seemed like a sand person in jawa clothing. He acted nice but Luke felt he only did it to get something in return. The elevator stopped and the adults stepped out. Luke followed shortly after them, he was hesitant about this man and wasn't sure if he really wanted to follow him into his house.

"Oh, Luke, you're lagging behind. Come on, speed up or you might not get to meet your new family," the woman said.

"Come along now, boy, you don't want to leave my wife waiting," Mr. Chieve chuckled.

Now he was just being too nice. Luke picked up his pace and stood next to the woman from ICS. At least next to her he felt safe. They entered what Luke figured was the Chieve's residence. It was as ornate as the lobby was, if not more so. Model ships lined shelves and display cases, the rug was made of the softest material Luke had ever felt. While the lobby was dedicated purely to red and gold this apartment was painted with soft purples, blues, and grays. The holoNet was on showing the damage from Tatooine. The emperor was using the tragedy to further his agenda to defeat any rebels who threatened the empire. Luke's eyes grew wide when he saw them move the bloodied body of someone who could only be his Aunt Beru.

"Luke, are you okay?" the woman asked.

He shook his head and tears began to roll down his eyes. He should have been there to bury her and give her some peace, why was he stuck lightyears away? He wanted to go home to Tatooine and give his aunt and uncle the burial they deserve. Sure they might have kidnapped him but for six years they were the only family he knew.

"Is he okay? Should I get him something to drink?" Mr. Chieve asked.

"Yes. Yes I think that should help," the woman said. Mr. Chieve walked in to the kitchen to grab some water. The woman looked back to Luke who was now sobbing, "Luke, Luke sweetie it will be okay, it will all be okay. What's wrong?" she asked.

Luke couldn't stop sobbing long enough to tell her so he just raised a finger and pointed to the holo. The video from earlier was playing again as the emperor gave a speech giving his condolences to the people of Tatooine.

"Is that where you're from?" she asked.

Luke nodded his head in response.

"Did you know any of them?"

Instead of an answer the tears came out more rapidly. He knew them. He knew all of them in a way. He had been there too, he should be dead not in some luxury house. He wiped his face with one sleeve but it didn't help much, just moved the tears around some more. For the past two days he had been in shock, so much had happened in such a short amount of time that he barely knew where to start crying. Was he in tears because he had been lied to his entire life? Was it because of the bombs? Seeing his guardians dead in front of him or being in a cantina all alone and scared. For all he knew he was crying because he had just met Darth Vader.

"I'm so sorry, Luke. So _so_ sorry. It must be hard moving right when the people you know were killed."

"Here's the water. Does he break down like this a lot?" Mr. Chieve said.

The woman took the glass and handed it to Luke. He gulped the entire thing down in seconds. He didn't know the last time he had had anything to drink, especially water.

"I don't know, we just got him today. He's barely been in the system for a full day and still has a lot to process. I'm sure he'll calm down in a little bit. The rebel bombing was on his home planet it seems. He says he knew some of the people killed," the woman said.

Mr. Chieve frowned. It would not look good on his political career if he ended up with a crybaby foster child. All of the other senators had happy and well behaved foster children who followed them around and attracted voters. He could play the bombing to his advantage though, if he could find out more information on Luke and his involvement then he could get sympathy for the boy and, in turn, for himself.

"Oh, my boy, it will be alright, don't worry. I'm sure they'll find the monster responsible for this attack," Mr. Chieve tried to comfort him.

Luke shrugged the man away and cuddled up to the woman. She rubbed his back in small circles and made soothing sounds. Mr. Chieve was already regretting signing up for a foster child, how much could this possibly help his career?

* * *

"Sir, the ICS has a message for you," a Stormtrooper said to Darth Vader.

"The ICS? You mean the people who deal with unwanted children?" Vader asked.

"Yes, sir. It's in regards to a Luke Lars about his blood test," the Stormtrooper relayed.

Luke Lars? The boy Vader had given FS-736 full responsibility over? "I gave that mission to FS-736 why inform me about it?" Vader asked.

"They said you wanted to know when the blood test was completed, Lord Vader," the Stormtrooper said.

"Stop wasting my time then, what were the results?"

Vader had been curious about this since they sent the boy off word yesterday. He needed a midichlorean count to see if Vader was correct in his assumption that the boy was force sensitive. There had been something about the boy, something he couldn't quite place. What was Owen doing with a kidnapped child? Obviously Kenobi had been a family friend of the Lars's and had hid on Tatoooine because of Vader's distaste of the sith forsaken planet. The best idea Vader had so far was that the boy was related to him, but that made no sense. His child was dead and by his own hand. His child along with the only woman he had ever loved. Luke was a common enough name in the galaxy, although one that brought back every memory of late nights teasing his wife about baby names. The Lars family could have had their own child but the boy insisted that they were his aunt and uncle. Vader realized that this matter was taking up too much of his time and after knowing the blood results would not push it any further. There was nothing special about this boy, just some force sensitive orphan.

"Well, sir, it seems that they are backed up for months. Due to all the rebel attacks there seems to be a spike in orphans or children who have lost their families. Luke's test results won't be in for at least three months," the trooper explained.

Despite what he had just vowed, Vader felt disappointed. He had anxiously awaited the results of the test and yet wouldn't know anything until at least another three months. He knew it was unsith like but somewhere deep inside he had really wanted to understand why just looking at the boy brought back his happiest memories and even a bit of his humanity.

"Very well," was all he said.

He had other things to do with his time like track down the rebels responsible for the explosions. They had a few leads, most of which were from DNA found at the crime scene. Vader thought for a moment, why hadn't he just used his own blood testing equipment on Luke while he had the chance? It was too late now. The boy was on The Imperial Center probably with a nice family.

* * *

Luke looked down at the plate in front of him. It was a green meal with lots of vegetables mushed into all sorts of new combinations Luke didn't think were possible. Mr. Chieve's wife had finally come home after Luke finished his "sobbing fit" as Mr. Chieve put it. She had fallen in love with Luke and doted on him since first looking into his bright blue eyes. She had been out shopping for new clothing for Luke and presented him with bag after bad of shirts, pants, robes, and shoes. He had never owned so many clothes before.

Mrs. Chieve insisted he call her Lara, she thought "Mrs. Chieve" was far too formal for a foster child to call their caregiver.

"Luke, you aren't eating anything on your plate, aren't you hungry?" Lara asked.

Starving actually. Luke hadn't eaten since arriving in Mos Espa two days ago, but he really didn't like how the vegetables looked or smelled. They smelled worse than bantha poodoo. "I've just had a lot on my mind," Luke lied.

"Why I think that's the first time I've heard you speak," Mr. Chieve said.

Luke looked down at his meal as the Chieves laughed at Mr. Chieve's joke. He began swirling his food around the plate, watching the shades of green churn around each other. Lara noticed this and chided him for playing with his food. He looked down defeated and finally took a bite of the green pile of mush.

"So, Luke, since you're finally talking where are you from?"

"Tatooine," Luke stated, he tested gravity with another spoonful of mush, letting it drop from his spoon back to the plate.

"Is it normal for little boys to play with their food on Tatooine?" Lara asked.

Luke looked up from his experiment and blushed, "Sorry."

"It's his first day, Lara, it might take his outer rim mind a while to get used the culinary delicacies of the Imperial Center. Just look at that Senator from Sullust, he'll only eat from fast food places, doesn't even touch his soup during Imperial dinners," Mr. Chieve defended Luke. "So, my boy, what's Tatooine like? It's been on the Holo a lot today."

Luke looked down at his "gourmet" meal and began playing with it again. "It's hot."

"Hot? That's all?" Lara asked.

"And… scary…" Luke said.

"Hot and scary," Mr. Chieve repeated, "Why is Tatooine so scary?"

Luke thought for a moment, "Because it's hot." It was a simple enough answer, people died in the heat which made every day a gamble of whether or not it was your last.

Lara looked at Luke as though he had five heads, "It's hot and scary… and scary because it's… hot?"

Luke nodded. It made all the sense in the world to him.

"So what did your parents do on Tatooine?" Mr. Chieve asked.

"Well I don't know about my parents, I never met them. My aunt and uncle raised me, they were moisture farmers."

"Moisture farmers? I've never heard of those before, what do they do?" Mr. Chieve feigned interest.

"They farm moisture," Luke said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Mr. Chieve was not amused in the least bit but Lara let out a laugh, "Really? And here I thought they were school teachers," she said, sarcasm thick in each word.

Luke blushed and decided he was done with his meal. The Chieves cleaned up the table and showed Luke to his room. It was huge, twice the size of his Aunt and Uncle's room back on the farm. The comforter was a fire red with a black imperial logo on it, however most of the logo was covered by the excess pillows. His closet was stuffed with the clothing Lara bought him earlier. Near a window showing the outside of Imperial Center was a small red desk and wooden chair. Luke assumed it was for his schoolwork. On top of his dresser was a holoprojector.

He looked around the room and headed towards the window. His view was obstructed by the neighboring skyscraper less than a foot in front of him.

"Who lives there?" he asked.

"That's just an office, Luke. No one lives there. It's where ordinary people do their jobs," Lara said.

"Oh, is that where you go?" he asked Mr. Chieves.

"No, no I go to the senate building, it's just a few blocks down from here. That's where all of the important people on Imperial Center work. I even get to see the Emperor and sometimes Darth Vader," Mr. Chieve said.

Luke stiffened when he mentioned the sith lord he had met. Darth Vader was a terrifying force. When he looked at Luke it felt like he was ripping into his very mind. But somehow Luke gathered the courage to stand up to the monster and yell at him for all the suffering Vader had brought to him. Luke continued to absent mindedly look at the office next door. Just under his view was a balcony used as a spot to park speeders.

"Okay, Luke, time to go to bed," Lara said. She had removed half of the pillows and placed them on the floor.

Luke complied and climbed into the bed. Lara and Mr. Chieve walked out the door as soon as Luke was on top of his bed. They hadn't tucked him in like Aunt Beru did. There was no lullaby to calm him down. Not even a gruff 'night Luke' his uncle would typically give him. He looked around the room and began to feel scared. Everything was brand new, he didn't know where he was and for the first time in his life he was truly alone.

* * *

Luke looked around him, terrified by every inch of this strange new room. He had to remind himself that this was only temporary until they found his real parents and he could go home with them. Someone knocked on the door.

"Uh...um... come in," he stuttered.

"Hi, Luke. Ready for some breakfast?" Mr. Chieve asked, far too enthusiastic for Luke's liking.

Luke nodded his head and hopped out of bed. Mr. Chieve made him change out of his Tatooine clothing before he could go anywhere. Apparently the couple was taking Luke out to breakfast. His aunt and uncle had done that for him once, Uncle Owen just complained the entire time about how expensive it was. This couple didn't seem to mind though, in fact they enjoyed having food brought to them. Mr. Chieve ordered for Luke since he couldn't read and didn't know what any of the dishes were. The food brought before him looked much nicer than the food Lara made for him last night, but he would never mention that.

It wasn't long after Luke took his first bite that camera crews started wandering into the restaurant. They began snapping picture of Luke, most of which were of him with a spoon in his mouth and food dripping back onto the plate. His face covered in confusion. The holo reporters started asking Mr. Chieve questions about Luke. Where he came from, why they decided to foster, what it was like with an already busy life. They had done this with most senators who decided to foster children. In fact r=the new popular holo program called 'Foster Senator' showcased just that, senators opening their homes to orphaned children. It kept the news away from some other unsavory things going on in the galaxy.

"This is Luke Lars from Tatooine. He's six standard years and just recently lost his relatives in the bombing over there. Such a monstrous place, really he's lucky he ended up in the Imperial Center, who knows where he would be now if it weren't for my wife and I," Mr. Chieve said.

One reporter turned to Luke who found himself ignored by the rest, not that he minded. "So, Luke, how do you like Imperial Center so far?" he asked.

Luke took a minute to think about it. It was nice but really crowded and he hadn't been around too much, just to the Chieve's apartment building and then the restaurant. "It's... big. And kind of smelly," Luke said. The whole planet seemed to smell like gasoline and puke, even the nice neighborhoods.

The reporter suppressed a laugh from Luke's answer, something like that would mean treason. "You know you're not supposed to say those things."

"Sorry," Luke said.

"It's okay, just don't do it question, I heard Mr. Chieve say you lost your relatives during the bombing, were you there?" Luke nodded his head trying not to think back to that night. "What was it like?"

"Scary."

"Just scary?"

Luke shakily nodded his head, "Everyone... everyone died. They all exploded and got shot. I saw A-Aunt Beru... they...she... exploded. The nice Stormtroopers... they didn't have arms or legs. It was scary."

The reported put a hand on Luke's arm in an attempt to soothe him. Luke's tears broke through and flooded over onto his cheeks. The reporter decided he had enough footage and left the boy alone. Mr. Chieve looked over to Luke and noticed the tears. He spun the situation to his advantage, "Look at the face of a child who has lost everything to those rebels. They destroy families, wreck planets, and leave behind orphans. This boy, Luke, is the reason why the empire fight everyday. To keep more children from become an orphan like him."

The camera crews and reporters left. The Chieves and Luke finished up their meal and left the restaurant quietly. Once in the speeder an argument broke out between the couple.

"I don't know why you had to call them just to show off your new toy. If I had known I would have done my air into something more fashionable, not this old nest," Lara complained.

"I needed to let the media know about Luke before Senator Igo announced his foster child. Luke's a bit of a crier, no way we'd be able to compete against him if our foster child just started bawling his eyes out," Mr. Chieve said.

"It still would have been nice to know before hand and to teach Luke some table manners, his breakfast was falling out of his mouth in half the pictures!"

The argument continued all the way into their living room. Lara told Luke to go into his room until later. He found the remote and turned on the holoprojector. He found the holonews and saw his face with tears streaming own it. The reporter was calling him the "little crying orphan" and calling out to citizens of the galaxy to stop the fighting. Luke wasn't sure he liked his new title, he wasn't exactly an orphan, just a lost kid. He realized he should mention that to his new family before it spreads any further.

He walked into the living room to inform his guardians of the mix up but as soon as he met their eyes he realized now would not be a good time to let them know he was not an orphan. The pair looked vexed. They had just watched the short interview Luke had had with the reporter, a reporter from the most rebel sided news source the Empire allowed just to give the illusion of free speech. The reporter had emphasized Luke calling Imperial Center smelly and linked it to how poor the quality of life was on the planet.

The Chieves had only wanted a foster child to improve polls,when they realized just how loose tongued Luke was they couldn't keep him anymore, he was more risk than asset. Once the news segment was over Mr. Chieve called ICS and demanded they take the boy back. An agent was there within an hour. Lara was nice enough to let Luke keep the clothing she bought for him and helped him pack up. Mr. Chieves on the other hand had only screamed at the boy for ruining his reputation in the senate.

The agent picked up Luke's bag and moved it into his speeder. They sped off towards Luke's new family, a nice single senator who wanted a child to help with some daily tasks and truly just to help a child in need. The agent called her a pacifist, although Luke didn't quite know what that meant. But he had agreed that that sounded nicer than who he had just been with.

"Now Luke, you have to promise me you won't get kicked out of this house," the agent said.

"I promise," Luke replied.


	7. The Orphanage

Sorry it's been a while, but here's a new short chapter just kind of some filler and moving the story along a bit. Any way happy reading and all that.

* * *

"Yes, Ma'am, I understand. What was it for this time?" Frank asked the ICS agent on the other end of the comm.

The miniature hologram spoke up, "He let a senator's pet Wookie loose."

Frank sighed, wishing he'd never signed up to be Luke's partial guardian. The boy had been in and out of foster homes since he landed on the Imperial Center. He'd heard every reason why: crashing speeders, ruining a senator's wife's hair, setting his bed on fire, and, Luke's personal favorite with a record of five different occasions, embarrassing a senator during an interview. It wasn't always his fault. The second home they sent him to had been that of a rebel alliance leader's. Luke's loose lips caused him to out her one day while waiting in line for groceries.

Luke could be heard off screen, "It wasn't my fault," he whined, "The Wookie just wanted to see his family, he told me he'd be right back!"

Frank shook his head, "Luke, Wookies don't speak basic and I doubt you speak Wookie."

"Yeah but it _felt_ like that's what he was saying." That was another thing getting Luke into trouble, these weird feelings he had. They had scared off a potentially nice family after he told them to catch a glass of water moments before it dropped. They called him a Jedi but Frank was sure it was just dumb luck. It had to be.

Frank turned his attention back to the ICS worker. He'd talked to her about Luke many times, it seemed as though she had taken it upon herself to get the boy a proper home. "So where is he going now? Not another senator I hope. I guess regular homes haven't worked too well either. And after the whole incident at the group home you're probably not going to send him to another one of those, and incident like that should never be repeat-"

"FS-736, I am placing Luke in an orphanage," she stated.

"You can't do that! He's a human boy, only alien children go to the orphanage, there are plenty of families who will take him," Frank protested.

"No one will let him into their house. He's revealed senatorial secrets to the news, told them about the affairs senators are having, and I don't think we need to go over the group home incident. An orphanage is the only place left."

"They'll treat him like a prisoner, they'll get rid of that little spark that makes Luke, Luke," Frank wanted to tell her just how awful orphanages were, he of all people would know. He'd spent nearly a decade in one around the Clone Wars after his planet was sieged by the separatists and his parents killed before his eyes. He'd been made a slave to work for them until two Jedi generals came and rescued him. He thought his life would be perfect after that but instead he was taken to an orphanage and treated like a prisoner. Each step he took and task he completed was carefully laid out for him every day and force forbid if you stepped out of line.

"The Imperial Orphanage isn't that bad and Luke needs a bit of a firm hand by the looks of it. In another month or so we'll have his results in, he finally made it to the first page of the list. He'll be reunited with his family in no time."

The transmission ended and the woman's face disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. He did not want Luke to go through what he had been through as a child but as a Stormtrooper on _Executor_ there was no way he could look after a kid. A Star Destroyer was no place for a child to grow up. Frank walked towards the crew quarters and grabbed a cup of caf. He went over to the chalk board they'd started using to place bets on how Luke would get kicked out of his foster home next _._ He placed check next to MH-117, or Malcolm as many ha started calling him.

"Would ya look at that? I won again. What is this the third time in a row?" he said to his companions at one of the tables.

One of them scoffed, "You were with the kid for a day of course you'd know what he would do."

Malcolm punched him softly on the arm, "Yeah well I wrote 'in cahoots with a Wookie' as a joke, I mean who could have kriffing guessed that?"

They all shook their heads and handed him over some credits. Malcolm was getting the hang of life on board the _Executor_ most of the troopers were decent people, just a bit rigid and more to the books than what he was used to after being on a backwater world for so long. He hadn't been sure if he was fit to be a part of Vader's main troops at first but proved himself worthy after their first battle together.

Another trooper turned to look at Frank, "So give us a hint. Is he being fostered by a senator, a civilian, or are they trying the whole group home thing again?"

"Yeah," someone else said, "and I wanna hear about the Wookie story too. Malcolm couldn't have been that on the dot."

Frank clenched the chalk in his hand. The troopers had come to adore his stories about Luke, it was almost like their version of a reality holo. He wasn't sure if he could break it to them.

"Luke's going to an orphanage. He broke a Wookie out of its cage and now they're basically imprisoning him," he forced himself to say.

The room was quiet for a moment. Each trooper realized what that meant. Unless Luke's family was truly alive the little boy whose stories they always looked forward to hearing about would be stuck in an orphanage until he became an adult.

Malcolm was the one to break the silence, "I'm betting he'll break out within the week."

* * *

Luke was scared. It seemed like he was always scared now. He was scared when he was arrested, he was scared when his aunt and uncle died, he was scared of Darth Vader, he had been scared with each new home he was sent to. But this type of scared felt different. It was an odd sensation, a tingling on the inside of his stomach that made it clench with every step closer he got to the orphanage. It didn't feel right to be so afraid of a building, in fact it almost didn't feel like his fear at all. It was distant yet still tangible.

He shook off the feeling and followed the ICS agent into the building. She checked him in and they waited together in uncomfortable silence. When Luke had first met her two months ago he thought she would be nice and kind. She was at first but with each new family he went to she began to distance herself from him. Luke understood of course, everyone distanced themselves from him because they saw him as "bad." He wasn't a bad child, he was just unlucky. The Wookie swore he would come back, how was Luke to know that he was lying? Besides, he was only gone for ten minutes before his foster family found out. And the thing with the group home was not his fault, it all kind of just happened at once.

The lady at the desk called the pair over for them to sign their names before Luke could be assigned a room. The second person he'd stayed with, the nice lady who talked a lot about the republic and Jedis, taught him just to put an "X" where he needed to sign. She had taken him to a senate meeting and since it was his first time ever signing he helped him through it. The woman took the paper and directed Luke and the ICS agent to a little office around the corner.

The ICS agent stopped before entering the door and looked down at the boy she'd been in charge of for the past two months. He was a handful but was the sweetest child she'd ever met. She bent down and hugged him tightly. Luke was confused at first but hugged her back, he wasn't sure the next time he'd get a hug. He hoped it would be by has real parents but with each week that went by that little glimmer of hope faded.

"Luke, you need to be a good boy. You need to be on your absolute best behavior here, okay?" she said.

"I'll try," Luke said.

She broke the hug and smiled at him, "I can't go in with you and after today I doubt I'll ever get to see you again but you need to stay out of trouble. If you do maybe they'll try to get you back into the foster care system."

Luke nodded and turned to the large metal door. The director of the orphanage sat in his round chair facing Luke. "So you're the young rebel all over 'Foster Senator'? I figured you'd be a bit taller," he chortled.

Luke pouted at the man, he wasn't that short. As the man continued laughing Luke sat down at the little plastic chair opposite his.

"Hey now, kid, who told you you could sit down? Force you're disobedient," the man said.

"S-sorry," Luke muttered.

"You really aren't an eloquent speaker either, are you? To think that they're thinking of taking clips of you from 'Foster Senator' and making a holo program about you. Did you hear about that, boy? They're calling it 'Mischievous Miscreant' or something like that. I personally like 'Little Rebel' better," he mused.

Luke stiffened. Why would anyone watch a show about some little boy from Tatooine making a fool of himself all around the Imperial Center? Who would even watch that?

The man looked over to Luke and really took him in for a second. There was something about his face, the color or his bright blue eyes and sandy blonde hair that looked familiar but he couldn't place it. He shook the feeling and handed the boy a key and a set of bed sheets.

"You're on the third floor, room 366. You are to be up by 0600 everyday, eating breakfast by 0730, and in class when the bell rings at 0800. You will have one break during class for lunch. Class finishes at 1600, you will have an hour to complete your assigned chore before going to dinner at 1700. After dinner you will go back to your room for an hour of socialization and three hours of study. Lights will go off at precisely 2100. We do not permit talking during study time nor lights out. Do you understand?"

Luke nodded and stepped out of the office. He found his way to the third floor but could not find his room number. Some older children were mopping floors and whispering to each other about the little lost boy trying to navigate the halls alone. An older girl broke away from the whispers and walked up to Luke. She was a species he'd never seen before. She was green, her two eyes shot up on stalks. Her mouth was located at the end of a long trunk that ended close to her belly.

"Can I help you out?" she asked.

Luke realized that he was staring at her and nodded his head, "I'm looking for room 366."

"366? That's in the human sector, you can't get there from here. You have to go back down to the second floor and take the black staircase up, not the metal one. Then- are you staring?" she asked

"No- I- it's just I've never seen your species before," he said. His cheeks turning a bright red for being found out.

She simply laughed, "I'm glad that you're at least honest. I'm a Pa'lowick from Lowick,"

Luke nodded and let her continue to give him directions to his room. He thanked her and walked back to the second floor. She had said that there were black stairs but he couldn't find any. He circled around once more before bumping into a guard. Luke took a step back and looked up. Unlike Stormtroopers this guard was dressed in simple black attire with a metallic helmet on his head.

"I'm so sorry, I'm lost and I can't find my room, and-"

"What's your name, boy?" the guard was unfazed by Luke's attempt to explain.

"L-luke Lars."

"Well, L-luke Lars," the guard mocked, "the human sector is just around the corner and up the stairs. Do you think you can handle it or do I need to hold your hand and walk you through it like a baby?"

Luke was about ready to cry. His day had been tough and now some man was mocking him without any remorse. A tear dropped to his cheek. He just wanted to go to the Pod Racing track and now his life was ruined. His life was ruined and there was a guard making fun of him for all of his misery.

The guard looked down at him, "Listen, boy, this orphanage will chew you up and spit you out. You seem like a sweet kid from some backwater planet I've never even heard of. I don't know what you did to get here but the humans here are the worst. They all ended up here for committing unspeakable crimes. Grand theft auto, burglaries, one girl murdered her foster family in the middle of the night. Those types of crazies are easy to handle, they can still see some reason. It's the rebels you gotta watch out for."

"Why the rebels?" Luke sniffled.

"They don't see reason. They do whatever they want and say it's for the good of the galaxy. They say that our Emperor, the one who single handedly stopped the Clone Wars, is an evil man. They'll brainwash you if you let them. Just remember: the Empire is good, Darth Vader protects us, and the republic is a foolish idea that never worked."

Luke nodded his head and wiped away stray tears, "But Darth Vader is scary."

"But he keeps the rebels away from us. I've met him once you know. He's not as bad as everyone says. He even thanked me for my service without the emperor telling him to or anything."

"I met him once too," Luke said, the memory began to surface. "He was still scary and mean."

The guard nodded his head and started walking Luke to his room. The black staircase was just around the corner from where Luke had been looking. The guard walked him to his room: 366. Luke thanked the man for helping find his room and giving him the ins and outs of the orphanage.

"Don't mention it L-luke. There's just something about you that made me really want to do good for once. I have this whole reputation here of being the bad guard so don't tell anyone about our little talk, okay?"

"Deal," Luke said as he walked over to the door.

"And, Luke, what did I tell you to always remember?"

Luke turned around and repeated the words the guard had recited, "The Empire is good, Darth Vader protects us, and the republic never worked."

* * *

So yep, Luke's in an orphanage and Vader's troopers are pretty bummed. I'll try to be a bit better at updating but I've had a ton of stuff to do so really no guarantees.


	8. Trooper Trouble

Here's a decently long update with Vader in it, along with a lot of his angst. Enjpy!

* * *

Luke took in his surroundings. The room wasn't very big, just big enough to fit two twin bunk beds, some desks, and four lockers. Luke tried his key in the lockers until one finally opened up allowing him to place his suitcase filled with possessions he'd acquired from each of his foster families into it. The bunks were made of cold metal, all but one was neatly made with a gray comforter and a single pillow.

The unmade bed was the one Luke assumed to be his. Luckily he'd gotten a bottom bunk and quickly put together his bed. The group home he'd stayed at had taught him the regulation military way to make beds. He'd only been there for four days but had figured it out pretty quickly.

Just as Luke was tucking in the last corner of his bed the other three occupants walked into the room each complaining about their chores. The first one to notice Luke was a boy about ten years older than him. He was a husky kid with a big build and little black hairs were sprouting on his top lip. He looked Luke up and down before looking over to his companions. One was tall and skinny, he reminded Luke of the vines growing a building one of his foster families had taken him to see. His hair was blond, but closer to the color of corn rather than Luke's sandy color. Thin circular glasses covered his gray eyes. He was clearly the oldest in the group and, Luke guessed by the way the other two followed him, their leader. The final member was much younger than the other two, he must have only been ten standard years. The young boy held a permanent scowl on his soot covered face. His gray eyes borrowed into Luke.

The leader of the group walked up to Luke smiling. For some reason Luke didn't feel reassured by the look at all, if anything the smile made him more uneasy. It was like the boy's true face was being held behind a mask. On Tatooine people would never do something like that, they showed their strength through serious looks and never put on friendly masks. It was an odd behavior to Luke, one he'd only been exposed to on Imperial Center. People of Tatooine saw smiling as something never to be taken lightly since there wasn't much to smile about there. Every smile on Tatooine was sincere. But on this planet smiles were exchanged without a second thought just to get ahead in life and gain false trust.

"So you must be the new kid, you're a cute little guy. What did you do to get yourself locked up in here?" He asked looking down at the small boy.

"I… um… I…"Luke stuttered.

"I bet he's a rebel, or the kid of a rebel since most of them are dead. Or maybe he's the rebel leader, I always said they were run by babies," the youngest of the three said.

"Shut up, Harvey," the husky boy growled.

The leader looked to the two boys, "Harvey, Dexen, let the kid speak. How about an easier question, what's your name?"

Luke wished it were an easy question. He still had no clue who his real parents were or what his last name truly was. He'd panicked back on Tatooine and said Lars but his aunt and uncle had never called him "Luke Lars" it was always "Luke Skywalker." He'd decided that until his real family was found he'd stick with Lars. They had raised him for his entire life, and died because he wanted to go to Mos Espa it was the least he could do.

"I'm Luke… Luke Lars," he answered.

"Well, Luke, I'm Heb Tarwin, Harvey's my little brother," he said pointing his thumb towards the youngest of the group. "And the big guy's Dexen Irris. He's not as tough as he seems, he's only in here because he's too ugly and none of the senators wanted him. I mean he may have killed one of their priceless pet husk lizards, but really he's not too bad."

"What about you?" Luke asked, "What did you do to end up here?"

Heb roled his eyes, "Lukey," Luke flinched at the new nickname, "I'm old. No one wants a seventeen year old in their home. Besides, I'm getting out soon, just one more month then I get to take Harvey and get out of here. You never answered my question. You're a cute, young kid. You look like you're straight out of the outer rim, the media could have been all over you. You have to have done something awful. You didn't kill anyone, did you?"

Luke looked at him with wide eyes, shocked that Heb could ever think he could kill someone. "No, no I did a lot of little things that just kind of added up. But they weren't my fault! They just kind of happened…"

"Pfft, sure, none of it was your fault. Then who's was it?" Harvey said.

"Well, I mean the first time kind of was, I didn't know you couldn't talk badly about Imperial Center though. The second time was because I was staying with a rebel. Then there was the time I said Darth Vader was scary on T.V. And the whole group home incident which was really not my fault, I swear! And then-"

"Okay, Luke, we get it. Geez kid, you sure do get around," Heb said.

"He sounds like a rebel to me," Harvey pouted. He had made his way over to the other bottom bunk and was sitting on it with his arms crossed across his chest.

Heb glared over to Harvey who simply looked down and mumbled a 'sorry'. "Don't mind Harvey, our parents… they were killed in a rebel attack last year. We wouldn't let the ICS separate us so we both ended up here instead," Heb explained.

"I'm sorry, my…" Luke didn't know what to say. He'd always thought that Owen and Beru were his aunt and uncle but they'd kidnapped him. For all he knew they weren't even related. "My guardians were killed in a protest about two months ago," he finished.

"No parents, no family…or at least none that would want us," he looked over to Dexen who was leaning back on one of the desks chairs throwing a ball he'd found at the wall and catching it as it bounced back. Dexten rolled his eyes. "and no place to call home. It may suck but it'll make usstronger in the long run," Heb finished.

"It also makes us orphans," Dexten pointed out.

* * *

Frank waited outside Lord Vader's private quarters. He had seen enough Stormtroopers taken away in body bags to know better than interrupt Vader while he was in there. No one really knew what he did alone in his quarters. Some said he had engineers in there tuning him up since he was obviously a droid. Others said that he did what normal people did, take off the mask, unload a bit, read the latest holonews, and have a bite to eat. Frank didn't hear any noise coming from the room, not even the usual heavy breathing that always accompanied Lord Vader.

If Frank didn't know any better he'd have thought Lord Vader was dead, or just sitting doing nothing. That couldn't be true though, Lord Vader was a busy man with many things to do. He couldn't just be sitting around doing nothing. Frank worried for a moment. What if Lord Vader was killed by someone aboard the ship? It was possible, not everyone was as big a fan of Vader as the Stormtroopers were. There could be a power hungry general or Moff wanting to take up the mantel as next in line for the imperial throne.

Just as Frank was in the middle of worrying the door opened. A tall black clad figure walked out of it and looked over to Frank. The eye socket of the black helmet seemed to dig into his mind. Lord Vader was fine, and most certainly not dead. A dead man wouldn't be able to choke an individual with the force like Vader was currently doing to Frank.

"Your fear broke me from my meditation," Vader stated. It was a lie of course. Ever since running into Obi Wan on that terrible planet he had had a difficult time truly meditating in the dark side of the force.

Meditation. That made a lot more sense than Vader being killed by some Moff. Frank would have thought more on the subject if more oxygen could get to his brain. He needed to get Vader to let him go, he needed to tell him about Luke. He started reaching towards Vader hoping to persuade him to let go.

"The… the boy…" he managed to whisper.

Lord Vader dropped him to the metal floor, "What was his midichlorian count?"

Frank took a moment to regain his breath, rubbing his hand against his throat as though it could help the pain, "He's been placed in an orphanage, my lord."

"I do not care about such trivial things, only alert me when the boy's midichlorian count is known." Vader hadn't thought much about the boy he'd seen on that planet. The boy who was the same age as his daughter would have been if he hadn't…

 _"If you hadn't killed her,"_ his thoughts finished. She would be six by now. He, Padmé, and their daughter would have lived happily on Nabooif he hadn't trusted Palpatine so blindly. His daughter would be beautiful and look just like a mini Padmé. She'd be just about ready to start primary school, scared to leave her father and mother behind.

Vader shook himself from his thoughts. There was no reason to think of what ifs. Padmé along with their unborn child was dead because of him and they were never coming back. What good would thinking of all the possible outcomes do except hurt him.

He dismissed the Stormtrooper and decided to take a walk around his flagship. With all of the paperwork he had to fill out after the protest on Tatooine along with prisoner transfer protocols being figured out for the man behind the Tatooine bombings he hadn't had much time to make sure his ship was in tip top shape.

He entered into the Stormtroopers quarters and was shocked. They had found a chalk board somewhere and put it in the common area. It wasn't being used to figure out new fighting maneuvers or theories on where the rebels might be hiding. From top to bottom the board was filled with predictions about the little force sensitive boy with bets placed next to each. A title spread across the top "LUKE'S LUCK." Predictions ranging from "SPILLING SENITORIAL SECRETS (AGAIN)" to "IN CAHOOTS WITH A WOOKIE" were displayed. The prediction about a Wookie had a large checkmark next to it.

The chalkboard wasn't the only deplorable thing about the space. Troopers gathered around tables without their helmets on, laughing about some joke Vader didn't care to hear. Others looked to be in a more serious conversation but upon listening closer Vader realized they were conversing about whether or not Palpatine could still procreate.

"Enough!" Vader bellowed.

Every Stormtrooper looked over to him terrified. They didn't realize that he'd be inspecting the ship so soon. They each grabbed for the first helmet they could find, not particularly caring if it was theirs or not, and shoved their heads into them. The troopers realized just how badly they'd messed up.

"What is the meaning of this?" Vader asked pointing to the chalkboard.

None of the troopers dared to speak up. They were all too terrified to mention the game they'd been playing while he was stuck in his office doing paperwork and arranging a prisoner drop off on the Imperial Center. They started to shift around like children after being caught doing something bad by their parents.

"It's just a game, my lord," Marvin finally spoke up. He knew it was a death sentence but he was the one to originally make up the game and he would be the one to take the fall.

"It is fortunate for you that I am not in a bad mood today. This room is to be cleaned and organized by the time I return. When I return, you are to give me the name of who ever came up with this game and I shall deal with them personally," with that Vader turned around with the swing of his cape and left.

Marvin waited until he was out of earshot before grinning and saying, "You know, he kind of sounded like a father for a second there."

Another trooper walked up and slapped Marvin in the face, "You're an idiot," she said, "I can't believe you talked us into this and now you're going to die because of it. I doubt Lord Vader will let any of us stay on board his ship."

She was right. She was always right, she had to be to be one of the very few female Stormtroopers. Marvin hadn't thought much about the consequences of turning the Stormtrooper's work area into a breakroom but now he had to face them head on. There was no way he was getting out of this alive.

"Kriff, you're right," he said, his grin fading from his face.

" _He_ doesn't have to die," one trooper said.

"What's that supposed to mean, TR-329?" another trooper asked. TR-329 wasn't a very well-known Stormtrooper, he was just another helmet in a sea of white. He often kept his head down and followed every order given to him. He was by no means an exceptional shot, but he was loyal beyond compare.

"It means I'm willing to take the fall for him," he replied.

"That's a death sentence!" the female Stormtrooper said.

"Yeah, and besides I doubt that Vader will believe you," Marvin chimed in. "This is my mistake, I'll pay for it."

"MH-117, you're the light of this whole place. Before you it was so dull here. Sure you won't be able to have a breakroom but I'm sure you'll find a new way to brighten things up, you always do," TR-329 said.

"It's a death sentence, pal. I don't want you doing this for me. I've already lost enough comrades," Marvin said. He'd already lost his entire squadron on Tatooine, their faces were etched into his mind forever. He didn't know TR-329 very well but there was no way in Sith Hell he was going to let someone else die for him.

"I'm old for a Stormtrooper, a bit over fifty standard years. Lord Vader is going to get rid of me soon. I don't have any family left in the galaxy, I've never done anything great with my life, no wife, no kids, no siblings, hell I don't even have friends. All the recruitment posters say 'Join the Empire. Make a difference.' I've been working as a Stormtrooper since the position first opened six years ago and I've made no difference, please just let me make one."

"I say if he wants to be a hero, let him. He seems pretty eager to die," a Stormtrooper said.

"I really don't-," Marvin started.

TR-329 looked up at him with pleading eyes, "Please just let me help."

Marvin slowly nodded his head. He couldn't bring himself to say the words that would condemn this man who only wished to be useful for once. He knew it was the best option, logic said so, but he hated himself for letting the man take on this burden. He hated himself for letting another one of his fellow Stormtroopers die.

* * *

"So, wait, you actually met the Darth Vader? The second in command of the empire? The scariest man in the universe?" Harvey asked excitedly.

"You make him sound so great," Luke said.

Harvey was practically jumping on his bed. Luke was in the middle of telling them how exactly he ended up on Imperial Center when he was originally from Tatooine. "He's my hero! He managed to kill all the evil Jedi, he helped to build the entire republic, and he doesn't just send troops out to do his bidding, he goes out and does it with them."

"Alright fanboy, I think you're starting to freak Luke out," Heb said to Harvey. He turned his attention back to Luke, "So what's he like?"

"He's… tall," Luke said. Last time he mentioned that Darth Vader was scary he ended up getting kicked out of his foster home. "Why were the Jedi so bad? One of the Stormtroopers told me that they tried to stop the empire but I saw some old holos of the Clone Wars and the Jedi were helping the Old Republic out. Why didn't they want to help out the Empire?"

Heb shook his head, "No one really knows why they snapped but it had something to do with power. They either wanted it for themselves or wanted to keep it a Republic since democracy never gets anything done. If nothing ever got done they could continue working from behind the shadows and no one could stop them."

"They seemed nice in the holos though."

Heb scowled at him, all signs of affection towards the six year vanished from his features. "The Jedi were scum, they were terrible people who only acted nice in front of a camera for their own benefit. Talking about them like that is treason and if you do it again I'm going to have to report you for being a rebel sympathizer."

Luke shank into himself. He was just telling the truth, isn't that what Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen had taught him to do? He didn't mean to act like a rebel, he was just telling them the truth. The people on the holos seemed to be very nice. They were brave and kind. They looked out for one another and only wanted the best for the galaxy. To Luke none of the Jedi could be evil, especially not General Skywalker the one who shared his name and eyes.

"General Skywalker was a scum too?" Luke asked.

"General Skywalker? You mean the Hero with no Fear? Of course he was, all Jedi were evil. But you don't have to worry about them, Darth Vader killed all of them," Heb said. "Look, Lukey, if you really want to know about the Jedi you'll have to go talk to the rebel kids. But if you do, you'll become one of them, they're dangerous like that. And if you're a rebel we can't talk to you any more, we won't associate with rebels, no one here will. If anyone from the empire knows that you associated with them you'll be put on a watch list for the rest of your life. One tiny wrong move and you've lost your freedom for life. You got that?"

"I think I understand," Luke said. He was conflicted. He didn't want his roommates to hate him, or really anyone to but he felt like there was something missing from what everyone seemed to know about the Jedi. How could heroes like them turn into villains so quickly? The rebels knew more about the Jedi than anyone else. They had answers for Luke but he would likely have to give up his freedom for it.

After the other boys had finished their studying it was lights out time. Luke lay awake thinking over the day. He listened to the sounds of their breathing. Heb was snoring so loudly Luke wasn't sure how the other two boys slept in the same room. Luke decided to go over his options, he could either ask the rebels about the Jedi and finally understand what had happened to them to make them evil or follow the rules for once and do as he was told, never knowing the truth about the Jedi. The thoughts still lingered as his eyelids finally became too heavy for him to keep up any longer lulling him into a sleep filled with Jedi and rebel alliances.

* * *

The Stormtroopers lined up waiting for Darth Vader. The once breakroom was returned to its rightful state, the chalkboard hidden in Marvin's room. The anticipation was palpable. They had been waiting in the room for half a standard hour and yet Lord Vader was nowhere to be seen. Some were beginning to believe that he had forgotten about his second inspection but knew he had been too upset about the state of the room to do that.

Just as they were going to get back to business the door opened. The towering figure of Darth Vader walked into the room inspecting every inch. He walked to where the chalkboard once was and looked for any residue of chalk. He strode around the tables to make sure they were exactly where they should be. He made sure the trash had been properly disposed of. Nothing was out of place.

"Who decided it best to create a recreation room?" he asked the lined up troopers. "I will interrogate each and every one of you if I must."

The Storm troopers remained silent for a few moments until TR-329 stepped forward from the line, "I-it was me sir. I thought it would be nice to have a place to relax and have fun."

Vader lifted up his arm and began to choke the trooper. TR-329 grasped at his throat trying to grab the hands that were not there. His lips were turning blue and his cheeks red. He stole a glance towards Martin his eyes seemed to plead with him, TR-329 was regretting taking his place. Marvin looked down not daring to look TR-329 in the face. He just couldn't do it. TR-329's hands fell from his throat and went limp next to his sides. Vader dropped the body onto the metal floor. He demanded two troopers to clean up the body.

"Your job is not to relax or have fun, it is to defeat the rebels. If I find any of you doing something like this again I shall do much worse than strangle you." He turned around and exited the room.

Marvin was staring at the spot Lord Vader dropped TR-329. Another one of his comrades was dead only this time he could have stopped it by just telling the truth. He could have stopped Vader from killing him, TR-329 had pleaded with him to tell Vader the truth but he couldn't do it. He was too much of a coward.

"Marvin, don't blame yourself, he wanted to die and be a hero. You heard him, Lord Vader was going to kill him soon enough since he was so old. He saved your life," a trooper said.

Marvin nodded and walked over to where they stored the blasters, he really needed to get his mind off of TR-329 and nothing cleared his head quite like shooting holes in paper targets. Finding his way to the shooting range he set up a target and took aim. He missed by a long shot. The helmet always constricted his vision. He took it off and took aim again hitting the target in the head. He smiled to himself and reloaded.

* * *

"Hey, Lukey, wake up! If you want to get a spot in the fresher you need to be early," Heb was standing over Luke's bed looking down at him.

Luke responded with a groan and covered his head with the blanket. The sun still wasn't up yet, why should he be up? Heb shook him once more and Luke gave in. He glanced over at the wall chrono to check the time.

"0530? You woke me up at 0530?" Luke asked, unpleased with how early it was.

"Well aren't you a farm boy? Farm boys get up early all the time. Besides, you don't want to wait much longer or else you'll get stuck showering with the rebels."

"I couldn't sleep last night and what's so bad about showering with the rebels?" Luke replied.

"They'll brainwash you, remember? We've been through this," Heb said.

Luke looked around the room and noticed the two other boys were gone. He figured that they had already gone to the fresher to shower before the rebels had a chance to. Getting out of bed, Luke grabbed one of the towels the orphanage assigned to him and followed Heb to the fresher.

A bad feeling started to twist at Luke's gut. The closer to the fresher they got the worse the feeling became. He looked up at Heb who just smiled down at him. It was the mask smile he usually wore, the one that didn't quite reach his eyes like he was trying to keep Luke's trust. Heb opened the door for Luke to walk through first and followed behind him. Luke heard the door click then a lock from the outside. He glanced at the chrono. It clearly said 0330, the one in the bedroom had been tampered with. He looked forward to see Dexten in front of him with a knife in one hand.

"I-I don't understand…" Luke sputtered as Dexten slowly walked closer, like a hunter studying its prey. He wasn't a rebel. He didn't go to the rebels. He just wanted to keep his head down for once and stay out of trouble, that wasn't too much to ask. It was as though something kept pushing him in the wrong direction no matter wat he did.

"You see, Lukey, you talk in your sleep. You were mumbling about Jedi and rebels. Not about destroying them but actually smiling at the thought of them. It sounds like you've already been brainwashed by them and I can't have you brainwashing my little brother or my friend," Heb grabbed a broomstick and swung it at Luke.

Everything started to play in slow motion. As the broomstick came towards him Luke ducked and it passed safely over his head. Dexten lunged his knife towards Luke sloppily not really aiming anywhere. Luke was able to dodge each attack as they came. Somehow his reflexes were quick enough to avoid Heb's broomstick aimed at his side. Heb and Dexten cornered him against a shower stall. There was no way for him to get out this time.

"Leave the boy alone!" a girl cried from the door. She was small and thin, her clothes seemed to drip off of her tiny frame. Her long brown hair was held in two braids hanging down her back. She was probably no older than eight.

"How'd you get in here? I thought Harvey was guarding the door," Dexten said.

"Is that the little guy's name?" a bulky man with a mop stood next to the little girl. He was taller than Heb by a few inches, his hair was shaved off leaving a shadow of what once had been black hair behind. "He's fine, just locked in a broom closet across the hall. Now let the boy go."

Heb scoffed and directed his attention towards the little girl. The boy ran in front of her and blocked the broomstick with the mop's handle. They began swinging and blocking each other in a fury of exchanges. Dexten became engrossed by the exchange and Luke took the opportunity to slip past him and ran towards the door. The little girl noticed and followed him out, whistling for the older boy to follow.

They ran out the bathroom doors and into the hall way. The boy shut the bathroom door behind him and used the keys he'd stolen from Harvey to lock the door. He looked over to Luke and studied him for a second before hearing bodies being slammed against the door. He looked at the girl and nodded before they both ran in the direction opposite of Luke's room.

"That was close," the little girl said, "Imps can be so stupid sometimes. I mean seriously? Brainwashing? It's not like we're the Sith or something."

"Be nice, Jania, they're the ones who've been brainwashed. It's not like they can help it," the boy said.

Jania rolled her eyes then looked over to Luke, "Oh you must think we're so rude. I'm Jania Fenn and this is my friend, Ranik."

"Did they hurt you at all?"Ranik asked.

"No, I'm okay," Luke said.

"I gotta say you were really great out there, almost like watching a Jedi," Ranik said.

Luke looked at him, amazed he had mentioned the Jedi, "Do you know a lot about the Jedi?" Luke asked.

Jania laughed, "Of course we do we're rebels. Well, I'm the child of rebels, he wants to be a rebel, and I'm guessing you want to be a Jedi?"

Luke shook his head, "No, I just want to learn more about them like why they became bad guys."

Jania laughed at Luke while he started to blush,"We have a lot of stuff to unteach you."

"Why?" Luke asked innocently.

"Because by the looks of it, you're a rebel now," Ranik said.

* * *

Okay, so a much longer update, I think like 5,000 words or so. How is the whole TR-329 thing going to change Marvin? Is Luke going to become a rebel? How the heck did Ranik and Jania know Luke was in trouble? Find out next time! And don't forget to follow, favorite and/or review!


	9. A day in the Life of Luke

Okay, so a super long chapter. Only one or two more until Luke and Vader are reunited, then I might make a sequel book but it's up in the air right now. Enjoy!

* * *

Luke looked at his new friends with curiosity. They thought he was a rebel? He didn't want to be one. It meant giving up his freedom for the rest of his life and if he was going to live with his real family that meant that they would be in danger too. He couldn't let his family get in trouble.

"I'm not a rebel," Luke protested.

Ranik laughed at him, "Of course you are. Weren't those guys beating you up for being a rebel? We saved you from them."

"But how did you know I was in trouble?" Luke asked.

"I heard them sneaking around in the bathroom, my room's right next to it. I had to go tell Ranik about it so I could have some back up," Jania explained. "Now you have to answer our questions, like what's your name?"

"Luke," he yawned, "Luke Lars."

"You seem tired, Luke, let's get you back to bed," Ranik offered.

Luke shook his head. There was no way he was going back to his bedroom with those lunatics after him all because of what he'd dreamt that night. "I'm not going back there," he said.

Ranik looked down at the little boy. He could tell how scared he was to be associated with the rebels. "We'll go with you, okay?"

Luke looked up and nodded his head. The three turned around and Luke led them to his room. He stuffed a few clothes into his suitcase and zipped it up. Then he turned to his bed and started to quickly fold the sheets and blanket. Ranik helped him carry his bedding to Jania's bedroom.

"My room's empty except for me. All of the senators really like having little girls to dress up and show off so we don't usually end up here," she explained.

Luke simply nodded his head in understanding. He still wasn't sure if he should trust the rebels. They were bad people, that's what the Stormtroopers on Tatooine had told him. They were the reason his Aunt and Uncle were dead. On top of all that, Luke was a ward of the empire and was needed to talk against the rebels in court when Darth Vader's ship arrived on the Imperial Center, at least that's what Frank had said. For now he decided to let it be and be grateful that they were offering him a bed to use for the night. He slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"Luke, Luke you have to wake up or else you won't have time to take a shower and eat," Jania was lightly pushing on Luke's shoulder to wake him up. All night the little boy had been tossing and turning mumbling about Anakin Skywalker. She'd heard the name before briefly while her parents were stationed on a base that housed some exile Jedi, but didn't know a whole lot about him.

Luke grumbled and slowly lifted his head off of the pillows. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. Jania took him to a different fresher than the one he'd been attacked in. She figured it would be better for him not to have to go back there.

Jania stayed back explaining that it was the boy's refresher and she wasn't allowed in. Luke stepped through the door and was assaulted by the smell of soap and steam. Boys of all shapes and sizes walked around either naked or clothed with a single towel hanging over their hips. Luke stood in line to use one of the showers. He didn't know anyone here, he was alone again. A shower finally opened up and Luke rushed in to take it. He let the water rush over him. He still found it odd that a planet could afford to use so much water just to stay clean when sonic waves did just as well. Not that he was complaining, there was something soothing about letting water wash over you.

After his shower he dried off and walked back to Jania's room. She had left to take her own shower so he took the opportunity to change into new clothes. He still hadn't worn every article of clothing Mrs. Chieves gave to him. He picked up a white tunic and brown slacks for today. He sloppily shoved the slacks into black boots. Not long after he finished dressing himself Jania stepped into the room.

"Oh, Luke, I almost forgot you were here. Do you… uh… mind leaving? I kind of have to get dressed. But I'll be out in a second and I can show you where Ranik, the other rebels, and I sit for breakfast," she said.

Luke nodded his head and walked out the door. He waited for Jania patiently playing with a loose thread on his sleeve. A group of aliens walked past him whispering to each other as they did. They spoke in a language Luke had heard once in a repair shop Uncle Owen took him to. He frowned at the thought of his uncle. Even if he kidnapped Luke he still missed him, Owen was the man who had raised Luke since before he could remember. Jania stepped out of the room, her hair still in the two braids from the night before.

She walked Luke down some hallways until they entered a large room. It was filled with humans of every shape and size. They were all chattering away while eating from trays. Luke thought the trays were cool, he'd never gotten to use one before. Jania led him to the line for food and gave him a tray.

"The food here's worse than the stuff the rebel bases have," she whispered to Luke. He looked at the food the alien behind the counter had given him. Some sort of tan mushy food, a fruit Luke had never seen before but was sure it was well past rotten, and a glass of metallic tasting water.

"It looks really gross," Luke said as they sat down next to Jania's rebel friends. There weren't many of them. Luke recognized Ranik sitting between two boys he didn't know. Besides the three boys there was only one other girl at the table. They were all laughing at one of the boys trying to balance spoons on his face. Jania walked Luke over to two of the empty seats near the other girl.

"Ora, Maverik, Vin, this is Luke. Luke these are our rebel friends," she said. She first pointed to the older boy on Ranik's right. He was about the same age as Ranik, around fifteen standard years, only much shorter. Even sitting down one could see the difference. His brown hair was shaved on one side, the other held two small braids decorated with beads and feathers, "That's Maverik, his parents ran a base on Aquilae before Darth Vader personally destroyed it about four years ago. He and his Stormtroopers killed every man and woman in the base, they only let Maverik live to warn other rebels."

"Nah, I think Vader's just a softy and couldn't kill a cute kid," Maverik said.

"What, he let some other kid live and you hid?" the other girl joked. Maverik just pouted. "I can introduce myself," she said. "I'm Ora," she said sticking out her hand, Luke took the hand and shook it.

"Ora's aunt worked for the rebellion on Imperial Center so when the emperor found out he had her entire family rounded up and killed until she gave up information, then he arrested the ones who were still alive for treason," Jania explained. Luke looked over at the dark skinned girl, her hair was elaborately done into braids with different ornaments sticking out. He felt bad for her, having to watch her family be killed in front of her.

Jania pointed her chin in the direction of the final member of the group, a scrawny teenager with lanky arms and thick circular glasses "And that's Vin. He's the oldest out of all of us. He graduated high school early and was ready to go to a university in Naboo for medicine until his parents became sick with an incurable virus they were working on weaponizing for the empire. The emperor didn't do anything about it and his parents ended up dying before a cure was found. He was forced to come back to Imperial Center to live in an orphanage until he turns eighteen which is in like two weeks."

All the new information was swarming in Luke's head. He was still stuck on the fact that he was a rebel. No, scratch that, he was still trying to deal with the fact that he would never again be able to fall asleep to Aunt Beru's lullabies or wake up to Uncle Owen grumbling about work needing to be done. How had his life ended up like this? On a planet lightyears away joining the very group that helped to kill his aunt and uncle? He was starting to feel dizzy.

"You okay, buddy?" Maverik asked.

"It's probably the bluefruit, it's never in season. One time Marverik ate one and a maggot fell right out," she laughed. Maverik joined in.

"Yeah, it was pretty gross. That's why I won't eat the fruit here," he said.

"Really? Because I thought you just wanted all of your teeth to fall out and blame it all on Vader," Ranik joined in on the teasing.

They continued laughing and joking with each other as Luke sat back and watched. They were clearly all good friends and were much more welcoming than his three roommates had been. Luke had always thought that rebels were mean and scary but these people were kind and open to him.

"Don't you think Maverik kind of looks like a Gungan, Luke? If he just had smaller ears," Jania said to Luke. Luke smiled and nodded.

"Aww, not the kid too! What, is it national pick on Maverik day or something?" Maverik whined.

"Every day is national pick on Maverik day," Ora said.

Luke was confused. Rebels weren't supposed to be funny or joke around. They were supposed to be mean and evil. They didn't just sit around talking and poking fun at each other, they had an empire to ruin. "I don't understand," Luke said under his breath.

"What don't you understand?" Jania asked.

Luke looked at her surprised she had heard, "I thought that you guys were rebels, rebels don't just sit around making jokes and talking, they're mean and they hurt people!" Luke began yelling.

"What, you really thought that we just sat around all day plotting to overthrow the empire? Pipsqueak, we're in a secured empire containment center, there are troopers and cameras everywhere. We can hardly even say the word 'rebellion' without some Stormtrooper yelling at us," Maverik said. As he finished one of the men in white armor walked up to their table. "See what I mean?"

The Stormtrooper in question walked up to the table followed by the three boys Luke had been rooming with and they looked angrier than a Tuscan raider during a raid. "Which of these scum locked you in the bathroom?" the trooper asked.

Heb looked up and pointed in Luke's direction, "It was that one sir, the little guy with blond hair."

The trooper seemed confused, "The six year old beat up three boys twice his size in a three on one match? What is he a Jedi too?" the Stormtrooper chuckled. The three boys turned red.

"Well… he was _there_ ," Harvey said.

"If you boys are trying to pull something on me I swear I will place you in solitary faster than you can shout 'rebel'," the Stormtrooper said while crossing his arms. He escorted the three boys away from the rebel's table.

Vin looked up and raised an eyebrow, speaking for the first time during the meal he said, "Do I even want to know what that was about?"

Ranik looked down at his food, suddenly interested in the gray mush. Vin looked over to Jania and Luke. After a few seconds under his cold stare Jania cracked. "They were trying to hurt Luke! I heard them picking on him so I woke up Ranik and we rescued him. I couldn't just let them beat him up because they thought he was a rebel," she pleaded.

Vin shook his head. He took a glance at Luke then turned back to Jania, "We've talked about this. Until the boss comes out of solitary we can't go picking fights. It's like what the great Queen Amidala of Naboo said, _'I will not condone a course of action that will lead us to war'_ I will not allow you start fights with the imps."

"But Luke could have died! They had a-,"

"Luke would have been fine. He lasted a while without you didn't he? You heard them attacking Luke in the bathroom and then rushed to find Ranik, correct? Given your top speed, the distance, and the time it would take to wake Ranik up and for him to find a weapon in that time I'd say Luke was on his own for approximately twelve minute and forty-three seconds before you showed up, is that correct, Luke?"

Luke nodded his head, "But it felt like forever and ever."

"Twelve minutes given that the attacker had a knife, which he most certainly did considering the bulky one with the facial hair was carrying a knife in his left pocket when the Stormtrooper walked him over here, would have been more than enough to kill a six year old," Vin explained.

"But he's not dead," Ora pointed out, "So how is he alive."

"It's simple, really, either Luke somehow was able to defend himself or, the more likely version, they couldn't bring themselves to kill a six year old boy. I think we need to ask Luke what really happened," Vin said as he and r=the rest of the rebels turned to Luke.

Just as Luke was about to answer a bell rang signaling the students to go to class. "We'll continue this during lunch, same place," Vin said.

"Wait, where am I supposed to go?" Luke asked. No one had given him a class assignment or even a schedule to find his classroom.

Maverik shrugged, "I don't know, ask a bucket head."

Luke stayed back as the rest of the students walked to their classes. He looked around for a guard or a Stormtrooper to help him out. He finally found a guard leaning against the wall half asleep. Luke walked up to him and tapped his arm. The man looked around startled. "Huh… wha- kid what are you doing, get to class!" he yelled.

"I don't know where it is," Luke innocently said.

The guard looked down at the boy, "What are you, five standard years old?"

"No, I'm six!" Luke pouted.

The guard smiled at him, "Wow, six years old, you're so small I really figured you'd be younger," Luke's frown deepened. "So six huh? I think that puts you in with Ms. Starfall down the hall. She can be a real-," the guard stopped himself before swearing in front of Luke.

"A real what?" Luke asked.

"Uh… nasty lady. Let's get you over there before the second bell."

He led Luke down the hall and into a small room the size of a broom closet. An old woman sat in the front of it, her wrinkled face was set in a permanent frown. She looked up at Luke, her pale gray eyes burrowing into him. He shrunk down as much as he could. He looked around to find only four other students at the desks, all older than him. As he walked up to the open desk in the front of the room he noticed Jania sitting in the back waving at him and smiling. The guard left the class room once Luke was seated.

"And who do we have here? A new orphan?" Ms. Starfall said.

"I-I'm Luke," he stuttered, "Luke Lars."

Ms. Starfall nodded her head and took Luke in noting he looked vaguely familiar. She shook off the feeling and started her lesson. "Today, class, we will be learning about the siege of Naboo. It's said that this battle may be what helped set up the Clone Wars," she droned on.

Luke was beginning to fall asleep. All of the politics and names were starting to confuse him. The Trade Federation. Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum. Nute Gunrey. Theed. Otoh Gunga. Boss Nass. The names just seemed to melt together. He had already forgotten who had done what. None of this seemed all that important to him. Why would he need to know what a bunch of dead people did anyway? Especially now that there was the Galactic Empire. He hadn't paid much attention until the teacher uttered a familiar name.

"Queen Amidala was finally able to settle this mess when she called a vote of no confidence on Supreme Chancellor Valorum. Due to her actions Emperor Palpatine was able to become the Supreme Chancellor and win the battle," she explained.

Luke looked back to see Jania rolling her eyes at the explanation. "Is there something wrong with my teaching, Ms. Fenn?" Ms. Starfall impatiently asked.

"Yeah, there is. Where are all the Jedi? They were sent to negotiate everything. Queen Amidala didn't just elect the emperor supreme chancellor, she set it into action and then left to help the battle in Theed. The Jedi _helped_ her to win and without them Naboo would have been destroyed. Where's all that in the story?" she asked.

"In the hallway, right now you rebel," Ms. Starfall demanded. Jania picked up her things and stomped out into the hall. She seemed to be well practiced in it. "Any other serious questions?" she asked. Luke raised his hand. "Yes, Mr. Lars?"

"Who's Queen Amidala?" he asked.

"We went over this yesterday but I suppose you weren't here for that. Padmé Amidala Naberrie was a politician from Naboo during the Republic. She became one of the most beloved elected Queens in history and was later a senator. Many began to question her morals towards the end of her life considering how close she was with the traitorous Jedi and her pregnancy out of wedlock. Is that enough for you, Mr. Lars?" she asked rudely.

Luke nodded his head, "Yeah, I think I know enough."

* * *

Luke walked into the cafeteria and looked around. He knew where he was supposed to sit but after seeing the way rebels were treated he really didn't want to be a part of them anymore. But they had saved his life. He walked to the table from earlier and found Jania sitting by herself. She waved at him as he sat down.

"So, how do you like Ms. Starfall?" she giggled.

"She's so mean. Uncle Owen would never be that mean," he said.

"Well, in another few years you'll be going to Ms. Ra' Shudd's class. I heard she's the nicest teacher here. You only get into her class the beginning of the year after you turn nine, just do that everyone goes together,"Jania explained.

"I hope I'm not here that long," Luke said. He suddenly became very interested in his mush.

"What do you mean, aren't you an orphan?" Jania asked.

Luke shrugged, "I don't know, I was kidnapped as a baby. My parents could still be out there searching the galaxy for me and I'd never know."

Jania frowned at the boy, "I'm sorry, Luke, I didn't know. Did they process your blood yet?" Luke shook his head, not feeling like talking anymore. "Well, there have been a lot of new kids lately, and they do have to go through every single sample and every database in the galaxy. Then after all that they have to get in contact with the families and arrange transport and all that. I'm sure they'll get to you soon," she smiled.

"I hope so."

The rest of the rebels gathered around the table and began eating and chatting. Vin was the last to arrive and looked right at Luke. "So, you were going to tell us how you escaped being killed," he said.

Luke looked up from his tray. All eyes were on him eagerly awaiting him to tell them whether he was lucky or his attackers were weak. He gulped down the food he'd been chewing and looked up, "They were attacking me, Heb and Dexten. Dexten had a knife but I kept dodging it," Luke explained.

"That's not possible. I'm assuming Dexton was the boy with facial hair, correct? He had weight, stamina, and strength against you. You should be dead," Vin said.

"Vin, leave the kid be, he had a near death experience just last night," Ranik said.

"Unless he's a Jedi he should not have been able to dodge a knife for twelve minutes. I've studied Jedi, I had met a Jedi, and he is not one of them," Vin said.

"He could have force potential though," Jania piped up.

Ranik looked over to her, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Jania looked over to the boy sitting next to her and thought about it some more, "I mean he was kidnapped as a baby. What if a Jedi saved one of the younglings at the temple and took him to safety?"

"Jania, you've had some pretty stupid ideas since I've met you but this goes above them all. Every single Jedi died that night, no survivors, remember? I get that you were only two when it happened but all the rebels know only a few off world Jedi lived," Ora said.

Jania mumbled that they were right. The meal continue in an awkward silence. The rebels got up and walked towards their classrooms. Luke tagged behind Jania neither saying a word as they entered the room. Ms. Starfall began teaching about math and before Luke could fall asleep they were dismissed to go to their chores. Luke made his way down to the director's office in order to get his assignment and to ask about switching rooms.

He knocked on the metal door and heard it squeal as it slid open. The director sat at the desk, a mountain of datapads stretched out in front of him. He looked up from one meeting Luke's eyes.

"What can I do for you?" he asked, clearly annoyed.

"I… I was never given any chore to do…" Luke said.

"You're Luke Lars, right? Just came in yesterday?" the director asked. He got up from his chair and walked over to a filing cabinet looking through old datapads to find Luke's.

"Yes, sir," Luke said. He took a seat in the chair opposite the desk and watched the director fumble around the drawer.

"I got an update on your blood an hour ago," he said as he pulled out a newer looking datapad from the cabinet. Luke perked up. The director started reading through it and nodded to himself, "They said that your blood is being looked at as we speak. They should have analysis and match by the end of the week."

"By the end of the week I'll know who my family is?" Luke asked.

"Hopefully you will, as long as you have a living relative who wants you," the director explained. "Until then, you're on sandwich duty. You'll just be making sandwiches for the alien kids."

Luke hopped off the chair and ran towards the kitchen. He had never been so excited in his life. In one short week he would finally know who his parent are and how he was kidnapped. Only one more week until he met his true blood relatives.

He ran into the kitchen and looked around at the workers. He was placed on bagging duty, all he had to do was put the mystery meat sandwiches in little baggies for the aliens to take to their rooms to eat. Luke thought it unfair that the aliens had to eat in their rooms when the humans got to eat where ever they wanted to but kept his opinion to himself. He didn't want to be thrown in jail when he only had a week left until he could go home.

He had been stuck in his own world the entire time thinking about the day he'd get to finally know what his parents were like. So caught up that he didn't even notice the bad feeling growing in his stomach or the shadow following him.

* * *

Luke sat down at a desk in Ranik, Vin, and Maverik's room. The orphanage had placed them together hoping it would stop the spread of rebellion. Maverik was throwing pencils at a picture of the emperor he'd taped to the wall opposite his bed. Vin was reading a datapad on the history of the Hutts. Ranik was doing pushups in the aisle between the two bunkbeds. Luke and Jania were helping each other out with homework from Ms. Starfall's class asking Vin for help anytime they were stuck on a question. Vin always knew the answer.

Ora burst through the door and threw her bag onto the ground. "I envy you so much, Jania," she sighed.

"What's wrong with the roommates this time?" Maverik asked.

"It's just all, 'Captain this' and 'Admiral' that or 'You know, Palpatine was pretty hot before the Jedi melted his face.' I don't think I can take it anymore. Can I just move in with you, Jania?" Ora said giving each quote a new accent and voice.

Luke laughed at her retelling of her awful roommates. Jania looked over to her friend, "Ora, I feel bad for you, I really do, but Luke's staying with me until we know what's happening with his family."

Ora shouted something jokingly about them not being friends anymore but Luke hadn't heard it. He was too focused on a weird feeling in his gut like the one from last night. Before he could say something he turned to the side as Dexton ran into the room and threw a knife at where Luke's back had just been. Instead of hitting his back it hit Luke on his side. He had followed him all the way from the kitchen. Luke screamed out in pain. Ora and Jania each picked him up while Ranik and Maverik chased Dexton down the halls. Vin ordered Ora and Jania to put Luke down. He looked at the knife wound and swore under his breath. It had gone almost clean through.

"He needs to go to the medical wing. Don't lift him, it could move the knife around too much and cause more damage. Luke, Luke, how did you know he was going to throw a knife at you?" Vin asked.

Luke looked over to him confused. He didn't know Dexten would throw a knife, he didn't even know Dexten would be there. At all. "I...I…"

"Luke save your breath. Vin, there's no way Luke could have known about the knife now help us out," Ora said.

"He did, he had to know. The way he perfectly angled his body to take the least amount of pain, how he was holding his stomach beforehand. Luke knew about the knife. He had to of known," Vin argued.

"Would you two please stop and help Luke? Ora call a med droid. Vin, do whatever medical thing you know how to do. Don't let him die on us," Jania ordered. "It's okay, Luke, you'll be okay."

Soon enough medical droids swarmed into the room. They surrounded Luke and gently picked him up and placed him onto a floating medical bed. They moved the bed back to the medical center and operated on Luke for what felt like months. Ora, Vin, Ranik, and Maverik sat at the chairs outside the med bay. They had been given special permission to wait for their friend. Jania paced back and forth hoping Luke would pull through. Ranik and Maverik had caught up to Dexten only to get in trouble themselves for tackling an unarmed civilian. Dexten would not get in any trouble for stabbing Luke because there was no footage of it. He had made sure to cut the wires of the cameras like he had in the bathroom.

A medical droid finally exited the room and hovered over to the group. "Your friend is in stable condition but will remain in the medical wing until he is ready to move again."

"How long will that take?" Ora asked.

"He should be fully recovered in a few days. We have stitched the wound and placed bacta patches over it. You may say good night to your friend and then kindly leave," the droid said.

The group entered the room and looked at Luke. He was fast asleep, Jania guessed he had been dreaming about Jedi like usual. He started mumbling again like he had the night prior.

"No…no…Ben!" he screamed. He began to toss and turn. The bacta patches were becoming loose. "Father! Uncle Owen, Aunt Beru! No! No!" the lights flickered a bit as his turning became more violent. Ranik and Maverik grabbed Luke on each side and held him steady. Ora and Jania each grabbed a foot to help. Vin ran to get help. As he left Luke stopped shaking and a medical droid rushed into the room.

"ALERT ALERT. ATTACK ON A PATIENT IN THE MEDICAL WING. I REPEAT ATTACK AT THE MEDICAL WING." Its sirens buzzed loudly as guards and Stormtroopers rushed into the room. The four friends placed their hands in the air and tried to explain themselves.

"There'll be plenty of time to explain in solitary, rebels. Attacking an unconscious patient, that's low even for you," one guard said.

Vin looked on from behind a corner as his friends were walked away by Stormtroopers. He knew that the kid was a bad idea.

* * *

Okay, no Vader or Stormtroopers. I just wanted to make this chapter about Luke and what it's like to be discriminated against as a rebel in the orphanage. Vin's starting to rethink the whole Luke being a force sensitive thing so who knows what he'll do. Anyway thanks and don't forget to review


	10. I am Your Father

Okay, so don't worry, I'll be making this a three or four part series with some little chapter bits in between. I just haven't had the time to really dedicate to this so even though the first part is done there will still be at the very least two more. So yeah, just be sure to look out for them, I'll be adding an author's not when I have the first chapter of the second one finished so be sure to look out for it. Enjoy!

* * *

The Imperial Center floated against the starry background of space. All of the billions of lives on the planet seemed so small and insignificant while looking at the greater galaxy surrounding the planet. Although it didn't seem much compared to the vastness of space, Imperial Center was the most important planet in the known universe. One of those billions of people on the surface was the man who ruled the galaxy.

Vader walked over to the docking bay of _The Executor_ to prepare his own shuttle and prisoner transport down to take him down to Imperial Center. He was to see to it personally that the prisoners make it to the prison to stay for their trial. The emperor only continued the trial on rebels to show himself as kind and fair, even if being thought of as a rebel was a death sentence. He would put on a show, give the rebels terrible lawyers, bring in some witnesses, and declare them guilty. This trial was to be all over the holo. The boy, Luke, had become quite the star from his frequent appearances on the show "Foster Senator." The people of Imperial Center seemed to love his farm boy naïve presence and his constant misfortune. Darth Vader hadn't heard much of the show, or even knew how much if a celebrity Luke had become. In fact he hadn't thought much of the boy until the Stormtrooper had mentioned him yesterday.

Darth Vader arrived at the bay and prepared his ship for flight. He ordered two Stormtroopers to help him move the prisoners over to the transport ship. They were to leave in a matter of minutes for the surface. Vader walked out to the bridge once more to check on his crew. As he did he overheard two Stormtroopers talking. He recognized one as the soldier he'd picked up on Tatooine, the other was the trooper who had interrupted his meditation for useless knowledge of the boy.

"Wow, the kid's getting his own show," the one from Tatooine, Malcolm the other troopers called him when they didn't know Vader was near. Not that he cared much if they gave each other nicknames or called each other by their real names, he had more serious things to think about rather than an idiotic rule Palpatine made up to dehumanize the empire's loyal soldiers.

"It's more of a documentary by the looks of it. 'Luke Lars: The Boy Who Survived.' What a stupid name," the other trooper, Frank, replied.

The prisoners were being moved into the prisoner transport shuttle. He left the troopers be, there wasn't much to do on the ship today and they had just gone through drills for the past five standard hours. He would let them have their fun.

As the door behind Lord Vader closed Malcolm reread the article, "I still don't get it, that's not the kid's name."

Frank raised an eyebrow towards his friend. Luke had always been Luke, hadn't he? "What do you mean that's not his name?"

Malcolm rolled his eyes, "I mean he just gave you that last name because he was afraid. When he told me his real name I freaked out a bit…well a lot actually. He has the same name as my childhood hero."

Frank looked at him, still confused, "So if his last name isn't Lars then what is it?"

"Skywalker… Luke Skywalker."

* * *

"Luke, Luke are you awake?" a voice called to him in his sleep.

"Just a few more minutes, Aunt Beru," Luke mumbled.

The owner of the voice slapped Luke across the face. His eyes shot open and moved towards his aggressor. He recognized the circular glasses right away. Vin. What was he doing here? Luke thought that Vin hated him. Where were the other rebels? He knew he shouldn't be friends with them, they were part of the group that killed his aunt and uncle, but they were also the only children who had shown him common decency. His roommates had attacked him and yet these rebels had saved his life.

"Vin?" he whispered, "What are you doing here?"

"I had to check on you, Jania would have my head if you weren't safe," he explained.

Luke looked at his surroundings expecting Jania to pop up out of nowhere. When she didn't Luke looked to Vin and asked, "Where is everyone? I thought they were okay?"

Vin looked at the boy with a hard stare. Had he truly already forgotten the nightmares from his sleep? "Luke, who are your parents?" Vin asked. "And do not just tell me 'I don't know.' Your aunt and uncle must have told you something."

Luke was silent for a moment, he wasn't sure if it was safe to tell Vin about his father, or the man his uncle claimed to be his father. Last time he mentioned it he got into a lot of trouble, he didn't want Vin to hate him like the Stormtroopers had. With a final sigh he said, "I don't know anything about my mother, I just know that she was a member or the senate, at least that's what the scary Stormtrooper said."

A member of the senate who was pregnant about six years ago. There were too many senators who could have fit the description, "What about your father?" Luke seemed to hesitate again, as though telling him would ruin everything. "I won't judge you based on your parents, Luke, you can tell me."

"Have you ever heard of a Jedi named Anakin Skywalker?" Luke asked.

Vin was confused by the change of topic but nodded his head, "The 'Hero with No Fear,' he was a big war hero during the Clone Wars and the most powerful Jedi knight to ever live, some say he was the chosen one who would bring balance to the force. In my opinion he didn't do a great job of it since the sith run the galaxy now," Vin scoffed. "You still need to tell me about your father."

Luke looked down at his hands, "You know more about him than I do. Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen, they always told me he was a navigator on a spice freighter but now everyone's saying he was a hero. I mean unless there are two Anakin Skywalkers in the galaxy I just don't get it. How could my aunt and uncle lie to me for so long?"

All the information finally clicked. Luke was Anakin Skywalker's son. Anakin Skywalker, the greatest Jedi, had broken the code and had a son right before the empire fell and he died. They were protecting Luke from the sith, not kidnapping him out of malice. Luke was a Jedi, Jania was right.

"Luke, your father was Anakin, wasn't he?" Luke nodded his head as some tears rolled down his eyes. He wasn't normally a crybaby but lately it felt like the world was against him. "You shouldn't exist, Jedi aren't supposed to have children. You shouldn't have been born."

Luke sniffled and wiped a tear off his face with the sleeve of his medcenter gown, "They coulda been lying. They kidnapped me, you know, they coulda been lying about my father's name too."

Vin looked at Luke huddled in the medical bed. His arms were crossed against his chest trying to make himself look smaller than he actually was. The bacta had healed his side enough for him to painlessly bring his knees up a bit. Vin wasn't so sure his aunt and uncle were lying but he had to find a way for Luke to feel better. "You're right, Luke," he said, "they were probably lying about your father's name, get some rest. I'll see you when you wake up."

Vin had lied to Luke, he would not be there when he woke up. He needed to find answers about where his friends were. The guards had said they were placed in solitary confinement but Vin knew that there was no such thing in the orphanage. Those condemned to solitary confinement never returned. He'd been looking into where those who go to "solitary confinement" actually ended up. From what Vin gathered it seemed as though the children were either thrown down into the lower parts of the planets where crooks and aliens thrived or killed right away.

No matter what he promised himself he'd get his friends back. Even if that meant leaving Luke behind. He looked back at the little Jedi boy and walked out of the room unsure if he would ever see him again.

* * *

"I don't get it, I've ran this sample a dozen times but the results just don't make sense," a scientist at the Imperial Center Genetic Database lab said.

"What's wrong?" the other asked. It was hard only working with two people, especially when so many children were orphaned each day due to the war.

The first scientist looked over his results again and shook his head, "I've never seen a midichlorian count this high before. It's higher than Master Yoda's had been. Not quite at Anakin Skywalker's level, but not too far off. The odd part is, he's only six years old," the scientist placed his chin in his palm. Why couldn't he make any sense out of this?

"Have you found out anything about his parents? Maybe he comes from a family with an unusually high amount of force sensitives," his coworker suggested.

He shook his head, "I haven't gotten to that part yet, I've been running the midichlorian count over and over." The scientist put the sample back into a machine and typed in some commands.

His screen spat out a series of numbers and letters. Profiles appeared and disappeared from the screen with loading bars underneath them. His coworker went back to her desk to work on a separate orphan, he didn't blame her. It took over an hour for the computer to finally slow down. He noticed it had identified a father but was still working on the mother and living relatives. Finally the results shot up.

"Okay, now I know someone contaminated the sample," he said.

"What is it this time?" she asked, annoyed that he kept distracting her with his work.

He didn't hear her. He was furiously typing away at his computer trying to find something about the blood that made sense. "I just don't get it," he mumbled.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest, "Get what?" She got out of her chair and looked over his shoulder at the screen. Her hand flew to her mouth when she saw the result, "That… that's impossible."

"I am _not_ going to call him," he protested. "I might be killed for even knowing this information."

"I'll have a droid contact _The Executor,_ " she said.

* * *

Oh kriff, how could he let Lord Vader know Luke's last name without putting Luke in any danger? Should he even alert Vader? Lord Vader had told him only to let him know when the boy's midichlorian levels were known, but wasn't this practically the same thing? He stood at the edge of the docking bay watching as other troopers loaded prisoners into the transport when his com went off. He walked out of the door to take the message.

"This is Stormtrooper FS-736 of _The Executor_ who is calling?" he asked, relieved something could take his mind off of Luke for a moment.

"This is Protocol Droid F9-H5, I am here to confirm the blood results of a ward of the empire, Luke Lars," a mechanical voice said.

This was exactly what he needed, this would give him a chance to alert Lord Vader to the boy's name change. "What were his micichlorian and parentage results?" Frank asked eagerly.

"His midichlorian count was one of the highest on record." That didn't surprise Frank at all, especially considering his surname. "His parentage is under high priority only, I will need to speak to his current guardian about it."

"I am his current guardian, Lord Vader left it up to me to make sure the boy was properly processed. Who is his father?" Frank asked annoyed.

"Luke Lars's father is Lord Vader," the droid said emotionlessly. Frank looked down at the comm for what felt like hours. Lord Vader had a son? Moreover, that son was Luke Lars? The little boy from Tatooine could not possible be related to the monster he worked under. The man who, just yesterday, killed a Stormtrooper for making the base a bit more fun. Lord Vader was a father.

Frank turned around and entered the docking bay again. He made his way to Darth Vader just as the sith was about to enter his shuttle. Frank saluted him noticing Vader seemed irritated.

"Are you here to give another meaningless report on the boy?" Vader asked.

"My lord, I think you'll be happy to know that his DNA has been tested," Frank reported. Vader looked at him as though to say 'go on.' Frank cleared his throat, "His midichlorian count is higher than almost any on record, only Anakin Skywalker's seemed to top it."

Vader scowled at the thought that some back planet boy could be almost as powerful as him he would need to take care of him as soon as possible. He turned and began to get into his shuttle.

"Wait, my lord, there's more. You don't want to kill the child," Frank pleaded.

Vader grabbed his throat with the force. It hadn't even been a week and he had managed to anger Darth Vader not once but twice. He was on a roll if he had wanted to die. "Why is that?" Darth Vader growled. He loosened his grip to let the trooper speak.

"H-he's your son," the trooper heaved.

Vader dropped him in shock. He didn't have a son. His beloved wife had died by his hand while still pregnant with his unborn child. This boy couldn't possibly be his son. Then it all started to click. He was Owen and Beru's nephew. Obi Wan protected him. He was living on Tatooine. And his eyes. Those were Anakin's eyes. Luke, the name his son was to have. "Remind me, what was the boy's name?" Vader asked, trying to hide his shock.

"Luke, sir, Luke Skywalker."

* * *

Luke hated being in the medcenter. He was bored and anxious. There had been nothing to do in the room outside of watch holodramas. He preoccupied himself by imagining his relatives. His mother would be beautiful with long hair and big bright eyes. His aunts and uncles would love him and shower him with gifts, maybe even a real landspeeder! He was mostly excited about is father though. He imagined a strong and kind man who resembled Luke in every way. They would talk about podracers and go on father son trips to new planets. Maybe his father lived on some far away planet where every day was sunny but not so sunny like Tatooine. He imagined his father coming to pick him up and hugging him so tightly it would be hard for Luke to breathe but somehow he would feel safe at the same time.

Luke imagined his father as a regular man, not a Jedi, not a navigator on a spice freighter, just a regular man. Maybe he was a pilot like Luke wanted to be. Or perhaps he just worked in a boring office like the one next to the Chieves's house. Whatever the case was Luke knew he would love his father no matter what.

As Luke was imagining his long lost family a doctor came in to check on him. "Alright, little guy. The bacta patches worked wonders, you should be free to go by the time your new guardian comes to pick you up," he said.

Luke looked at the doctor and raised an eyebrow, "My new guardian?" No one had told Luke about a new guardian.

"It seems your DNA was finally analyzed. It takes forever you know with all of the orphans coming in every day," the doctor explained.

"What's their name?" Luke asked.

The doctor looked down at the datapad and frowned. "It says here that it's only for top priority. Sorry little fellow, I'm not that important," the doctor said.

"So when do I get to meet them? Is it my real father or mother? Is it an aunt? Do they have kids?" Luke was practically jumping out of his bed waiting hear what all the doctor knew.

"All I know is that they're picking you up in a few hours. I'll let you out of here after I run a few more tests to make sure your vitals are okay and that we didn't miss anything important."

Luke nodded and allowed the doctor to collect all of the samples he needed. As the doctor was drawing some blood to check for infections Luke heard a commotion outside of the door. The doctor grumbled and peaked outside to see what all the fuss was about. Outside was a horde of reporters and reality T.V. cameras. The doctor slammed the door and finished up his work.

"It looks like you've got a whole fan base out there Luke," he said.

"Why?" Luke asked. He wasn't famous. He was just a farm boy from a backwater planet.

The doctor knitted his eyebrows, "You didn't know? You're getting your own T.V. show. You've become quite the famous little guy." The doctor cleaned up some of the supplies and looked over to Luke, "You can leave whenever you feel ready."

Luke nodded and inched himself off of the bed. He wasn't quite sure how all of the reporters got into the orphanage, let alone the medical wing. He guessed it had something to do with the director wanting more publicity to get rid of some of the children stuck there.

He lowly opened the door and was met with dozens of flashes of lights. Holorecorders were inching as close to him as they could as he was assaulted with questions. Who are your parents? Will you stay on Imperial Center? When will the reunion happen? Why were you in the medical wing? The questions buzzed around him until he whispered, "Please stop."

The reporters stopped to listen to what he had to say. "I'll… I'll answer your questions if you raise your hands and wait nicely. That's what Ms. Starfall tell us when we all talk at once," he said. The reporter quietly laughed and wrote in their datapads. They began to raise their hands. "Um…you?" Luke asked, pointing to a female human in the back of the crowd.

"Kya Thano, 'Imperial Sun News'. Luke, for the past few months the galaxy has been watching you bounce from home to home due to some naïve assumptions you've had. We've, of course, been enjoying you seeing the civilized galaxy for the first time but I have to ask, if you're family lives out of the core worlds will you willingly go back to the poverty you once lived in?"

"Of course I would, they're my family. I would go with them no matter where they lived," he replied. He looked around the crowd and pointed to another reporter.

"Atlan Noth from 'The Core Ledger'. Who are your parents?" a human male asked.

"The doctor says that's high pri-o-tary," Luke said. He blushed when the reporters laughed at his mispronunciation of 'priority' before realizing what that could mean and whispering among themselves. Luke picked another reporter.

"Saubio Aschansa, 'The Mos Eisley Post'," Luke looked over the reporter from Tatooine. He was a bark blue twi'lek around forty standard years old. "I could ask a soft question like the rest of these 'reporters' are but let's talk about something serious for a second. Will you be going up as a witness for the trial against the rebels on Tatooine? If you are, do you believe the rebels to be guilty of high treason?"

Luke didn't know how to answer that. He knew he would be going on trial soon because of what he had witnessed but he wasn't sure that the rebels were totally guilty. At the time he was convinced that they were the reason why his aunt and uncle were dead but now? After he had met the rebels at the orphanage? After they became his only friends? He just wasn't sure anymore. "I…I really don't know. I mean I'm a witness but I don't know if they were guilty or not," Luke admitted.

A few reporters jotted down what Luke had said. "The kid actually believes that justice is blind," one whispered.

"He's like a poster child of fairness throughout the galaxy," said another.

Luke heard Saubio scoff and say, "I think he's just a rebel sympathizer."

Luke answered a few more questions before he realized a standard hour had already passed. "I have to go pack up now to go home. Bye-bye!" Luke waded through the sea of reporters. Some stopped him to ask questions but Luke politely declined. He needed time to gather his things from Jania's room. He also wanted to say goodbye to his friends properly and spend some time with them before he left.

As he walked through the halls the holorecorders followed him. He didn't want them knowing that he was staying in a girls room so he ducked into the rebel boys' dorm. When the holorecorders tried to follow him in he slammed the door shut and looked around. The room was empty. All of the blankets and sheets were taken off of the bed. Vin's books datapads were nowhere to be seen. The only shred of evidence that three rebel boys had lived here was the poster of the emperor with pencil marks all over it. Luke took the poster off of the wall, folded it, and placed it in his pocket. If the director saw it he would be furious and punish Maverik for disgracing the emperor like that.

Luke knew he couldn't stay in the room forever. He also knew that he didn't want the holorecorders following him to Jania's room. He looked around and found an air duct. Although it was a bad idea, it was the only way out of the room without being followed. Luke jumped onto Maverik's top bunk and opened a vent above it. He hopped up and began to crawl towards Jania's room. Or at least he thought he was. Looking down at the floor through another vent, Luke realized he didn't know where he was. This area was filled with all sorts of species of aliens. As he was leaning down to get a closer look the vent broke and Luke came crashing down.

He landed in front of a green pa'lowick who looked down at him strangely. A flash of recognition flashed across her face as she helped Luke up. "You're the little lost boy from a few days ago, aren't you?" she asked.

Luke looked up and recognized the kind alien who had helped him find hos room on his first day at the orphanage. "I remember you! You helped me get to my room. Do you think you could help me get back there again?" he asked.

The pa'lowick laughed, "Sure thing, you're not too far this time. The stairs are right over there. Just go down those ones and up the ones next to them. Your room should be in that hall. Now I've got a question for you, what were you doing in the air ducts?"

Luke sighed, "It's a long story. I guess I'm some sort of reality T.V. star so these cameras chased me into my friends' room but they weren't there and all their stuff was gone. I needed to get my stuff since my family's coming to get me today so I climbed through the air ducts to try to get to the room I've been staying in but I fell and landed here."

Her eyes seemed to pop out of their stocks, "You're a T.V. star?"

Luke shrugged, "I guess?"

"Could I get an autograph? We never get T.V. stars around here!" she almost squealed.

Luke nodded his head and the pa'lowick grabbed a piece of toilet paper from the cleaning cart next to them. Luke grabbed a pen one of the reporters gave him and signed it. He thanked his friend and walked towards Jania's room.

He opened the door and found her room empty as well. His belongings were missing along with the blanket and sheets he'd placed last night. Luke thought that maybe the director might have moved his things into the office so Luke would be able to easily leave but something didn't seem right about that. No, he had a bad feeling about this.

Luke didn't know where to search for his missing friends. They had to be somewhere in the orphanage. Vin was smart, he would know. That was another problem. Luke didn't know where to look for Vin either, he could be anywhere. Defeated, Luke looked at the chrono on the wall and realized he was running late for his meeting with the director. Suddenly Luke felt a chill go up his spine. He ignored it and raced straight to the office.

* * *

"This is Elara Herm, coming to viewers live from the Imperial Child Services orphanage in the downtown area. Today is a very special day for a little boy who has become a household name over the past few months, Luke Lars. Just two short months ago little Luke entered the home of Senator Chieves after losing his aunt and uncle to a rebel raid on Tatooine. He became a star on the empire's hit show 'Foster Senator.' Luke was featured frequently throughout the months after getting kicked out of or forcibly removed from each senator's house. Unfortunately, senators stopped taking him in after he was thought to bring bad luck and our star ended up in the Imperial orphanage.

"His story gets even more complicated. My sources tell me that the two moisture farmers on Tatooine might not have been his real family. That's right, little Luke may have been kidnapped as a baby. That is why today is such a joyous day for Luke. Today, after six years, he is going to be reunited with his long lost family. The identity of the family is being held secret by the orphanage staff until they come to collect Luke. Hold on…I'm getting an update… an imperial transport has just arrived. I repeat an imperial transport has just arrived at the orphanage to perhaps pick Luke up?"

As the reporter said this a large black ship landed on the parking area of the orphanage. Cameras flooded around the ship waiting to see who Luke's parents could possibly be to ride in such a transport.

"I think I can see someone stepping out. It's a Stormtrooper! Luke's parents are being escorted by Stormtroopers! And, oh folks I don't know if you can see this but it looks like-it looks like some of the reporters are being flung away. Is tha-Darth Vader? What could he possibly be doing here? Is Luke related to the emper-," the reporter began to choke. The holorecorder played nothing but fuzz. Every reporter in the area passed out but was not killed, Darth Vader would not kill anyone on the day he was reunited with his son.

He marched into the orphanage with two Stormtroopers behind him. As he made his way through the halls children stared at him in fear and wonder. They seemed happy enough to observe from afar as Vader entered the office his son was in. He still wasn't used to the thought of having a son. It made him feel a warmth he hadn't felt since before Mustafar.

The door slid open to reveal a little tanned blonde boy with bright blue eyes. Anakin's eyes. Those were his eyes. The boy looked like a miniature Anakin. Not that all of him was Anakin, no, Padmé was there. She was in his cheek bones and his small frame. She was in the way he held himself as he talked to the director. Or the way he had been talking to the director until Vader walked in. As soon as he entered the room the boy seemed to freeze and shiver.

"It's cold in here," Luke shivered. Darth Vader knew why the boy had felt so cold.

"Ehh, you're just to use to the environment quite yet. It's perfectly fine it-," the director looked up to see Lord Vader and two Stormtroopers at the door. "L-Lord Vader, sir, I wasn't expecting an inspection today. I-we we're not prepared," he stuttered.

Luke stayed stiff in his seat. He knew who was behind him. He didn't even want to look at Ben Kenobi's killer. So instead he looked straight ahead at the corner of the desk the director was sitting at. Vader frowned under his mask at the way Luke was acting towards him before he remembered killing Obi-Wan in front of the young boy. Their first meeting suddenly found its way to the front of Vader's mind.

"You are Luke Skywalker, correct?" Lord Vader asked as gently as his voice would allow him. He sat down in the chair across from the director.

Luke looked into the eye of the mask, searching for any signs that there might be a man behind it. "How did you-," Luke began before Vader put a hand up to stop him.

"I know many things, young one. You are upset that I killed Kenobi, you have been unsure of who you really are lately, who you can trust and who your true family is. You may trust me, Luke," Darth Vader said.

Luke was skeptical of Vader's peace offering and looked at him suspiciously, "And why should I?"

"Because, I am your father," Vader answered. He looked over to the chairman, "I am sure there must be some sort of paperwork for me to fill out. You are unsure of why I would take this boy," Vader said, reading the director's thoughts, "You do not think I am truly the boy's father or even human. I have the DNA results right here." Vader unfolded a stack of papers and placed them on the desk. "I can assure you those are not falsified in anyway. If you would like we can do another test right now."

The director looked over the papers. Lord Vader had been telling the truth. The boy was his son. He folded up the papers and handed them back to the sith lord. He looked from Luke to Vader and said, "I-I just need you to sign a release form, sir, uh, my lord." He got up and left the room to grab the paper.

When father and son were left in the room Vader caught Luke staring at him again. "You are wondering why I chose now to collect you," Vader stated. Luke nodded his head. "You were stolen from me before you were even born. I've spent every day for the past six years thinking you died in your mother's womb. Now that I know you are alive I want to help you to grow and become more powerful."

"More powerful? Lord- Father, I just want to be with you as a family. I don't want to become powerful. I just want to be with you," Luke said.

Vader smiled sadly under his mask, "You sound just like your mother. If that is what you wish then so be it, for now. You are still young, you will learn how much power can truly help you."

Luke and Darth Vader sat in comfortable silence for the next few seconds before the director walked in with a datapad in his hand. With a flick of his wrist Luke was legally under Vader's care. They rose from their seats and Luke followed Vader into his ship. Some of the reporters had woken up and quietly took pictures of Luke entering the vehicle with Vader.

"I hate reporters," Vader mumbled. Luke nodded his head in agreeance.

He didn't know what was instore for the two of them now that they were reunited. But he wasn't sure if he really cared. All that mattered to Luke was that he was with his father for the first time in his life and nothing in the galaxy could separate them again.

After six long and agonizing years in darkness, Vader was finally able to see a little, albeit not much, of a light. Luke. Luke had brought a kind of warmth and happiness the sith lord thought impossible. Although there was still much to do: the trial, convincing Palpatine to let Luke stay, keep up with the imperial navy, and check Padmé's tomb for anything else he might have missed Vader knew one thing. He and his son were finally reunited.

* * *

Far away in the swamp planet Dagobah, a small green alien looked up to the stars. He felt a large disturbance in the force coming from the core worlds. He bowed his head as he shook it back and forth. "Good, this is not."

* * *

Hope you liked it! Like I said, there will be more, just not for this particular book. I won't just leave you with a "Luke and Vader lived happily ever after" story. Happy holidays to those of you who celebrate anything and don't forget to read and review!


	11. Sequel's up!

Hey guys, I finally got around to making a sequel and the first chapter is up but here's just a little sneak peak before you head over to it. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

The father and son walked through the corridors towards the throne room in the center of the castle. Luke gawked at the colorful tapestries and holoportraits of important senators and moments of history lining the walls. Every few feet a bust or sculpture appeared on either side of the hall seemingly greeting Luke with distrustful eyes. The onyx walls were trimmed with golden patterns reminiscent of famous Nubian designs.

As they made their way to the end of the hall a large door flanked by two royal guards robed in scarlet stood between them and the emperor. Vader looked down to his son, "Do not follow me in. If summoned do not speak to the emperor unless spoken to first. Is that understood?"

Luke carefully nodded his head still in awe of the large door in front of him. Vader walked up to it and the two guards brought their force pikes up to allow him access to the room. As soon as he stepped in Vader kneeled onto one knee and bowed his head to the emperor. Emperor Palpatine looked down to his apprentice and smirked. He hadn't been expecting a visit so soon.

"Rise my apprentice," he said. Vader rose and looked to his master. Palpatine continued, "To what do I owe this visit, Lord Vader? I expected you would drop off the prisoners and run off on another mission to undermine the rebels."

"Master, there was an unexpected finding on Tatooine. Obi Wan had hidden something very powerful." Vader paused waiting to see his master's reaction to the news. Palpatine seemed uninterested, or perhaps it was distraction, curious as to who Vader had brought along and hidden behind the throne room's door. Vader took it as permission to continue, "He was hiding my son."


End file.
